Satadru Dutta, the main organiser of the Kolkata event of the Lionel Messi GOAT India tour on December 13, who was arrested soon after, has revealed to the investigators the details related to the football icon’s visit to India.
Dutta stated that Messi was paid ₹89 crore for his India tour, while the Indian government received ₹11 crore in taxes, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.
“Lionel Messi was paid ₹89 crore for the tour, while ₹11 crore was paid as tax to the Indian government,” PTI quoted Dutta as telling the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the alleged mismanagement of the event in the West Bengal capital.
This places the total expenditure for the tour at ₹100 crore. Thirty per cent of the amount was sourced from sponsors, while another 30 per cent was generated through ticket sales, the report added.
Thousands of spectators had purchased high-priced tickets to attend the event at Salt Lake Stadium, but the programme descended into chaos as a large number of people crowded around Lionel Messi on the field, making him barely visible from the galleries and triggering anger among fans, some of whom later vandalised parts of the stadium.
The SIT, comprising senior IPS officers Piyush Pandey, Javed Shamim, Supratim Sarkar and Muralidhar, was formed in the aftermath of the event to investigate the vandalism. The SIT is also investigating security lapses, access violations, and the role of organisers and officials in the incident.
‘An influential person’ derailed Lionel Messi’s Kolkata event
Satadru Dutta has also claimed that initially, only 150 ground passes were issued for the Lionel Messi event in Kolkata. The number, however, tripled when a “very influential person” reached the stadium and “overpowered him”, he told the SIT, according to PTI.
Police are examining whether the expanded access directly contributed to the breakdown of crowd control.
“The arrested accused also claimed that once that particular influential person reached the stadium, all the flow-chart for the Messi programme got disturbed and he could not control it,” an SIT official told PTI.
During prolonged questioning, Dutta reportedly said that Messi “did not like being touched on the back or being hugged” and that the concern had been conveyed in advance by the foreign security officials responsible for the footballer’s protection.
“Despite repeated public announcements to restrain the crowd, there was no impact. The manner in which Messi was surrounded and embraced was completely unacceptable to the World Cup-winning footballer,” Dutta told investigators.
West Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas was seen in close proximity to Messi throughout the programme, with visuals showing him holding the footballer around the waist while posing for photographs.
Biswas has been accused of using his influence to allow relatives and personal acquaintances access to Messi. Amid mounting criticism, he resigned from his post as sports minister pending completion of the investigation.
Investigators are also probing how such a large number of people gained access to the ground area.
