Satadru Dutta, the organiser behind football superstar Lionel Messi’s India tour, has filed an
official police complaint against former West Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas and
several others. The complaint, registered at the Bidhannagar South police station on
Monday evening, May 18, 2026, accuses the Trinamool Congress leader of sabotaging the
high-profile sports event held at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium in December 2025. Alongside
Biswas, the complaint also names former Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar, local
councillor Juin Biswas, and senior bureaucrat Santanu Basu.
According to the complaint, the former minister misused his administrative powers to bypass
the Z-plus security protocol arranged for the international football star. Dutta alleged that
Biswas pressured him to hand over approximately 22,000 complimentary tickets, which were
allegedly sold on the black market, and demanded an additional 10,000 field access passes
for his political associates. The resulting intrusion of hundreds of unauthorised people onto
the pitch reportedly caused significant discomfort and security concerns for Messi and his
international security team, forcing the star to abruptly cut the event short and leave the
stadium after just 20 minutes.
The early termination of the programme had previously triggered massive crowd unrest and
stadium vandalism, after which Dutta himself was arrested and spent 38 days in jail. Dutta
stated that he was initially coerced into taking the blame as a scapegoat but has now
stepped forward due to the recent political change of guard in West Bengal. The legal move
came just hours after the newly appointed BJP Sports Minister, Nisith Pramanik, ordered a
fresh investigation into the stadium fiasco. Dutta has expressed his intent to push the matter
further by filing civil and defamation lawsuits worth 100 crore against the accused
individuals.
