In a major post-election legal development, sports promoter Satadru Dutta has filed an official police complaint against former West Bengal Sports Minister and TMC leader Aroop Biswas, accusing him of sabotaging international football icon Lionel Messi’s visit to Kolkata in December 2025. Filed at the Bidhannagar South police station on Monday, May 18, 2026, the FIR also names former DGP Rajeev Kumar and senior bureaucrat Santanu Basu. Dutta alleges that Biswas extorted 22,000 complimentary tickets for black-market sales and forced 10,000 unauthorized political associates onto the Salt Lake Stadium pitch, compromising Messi’s Z-plus security and forcing the star to flee after just 20 minutes. Dutta, who previously spent 38 days in jail as a “scapegoat,” stated that the recent political change in Bengal gave him the courage to act, following a fresh probe ordered by the newly appointed BJP Sports Minister, Nisith Pramanik.
