Kolkata. Recently, football star Lionel Messi was on India tour, where he participated in events in many cities including Kolkata, Hyderabad. During this time, the situation in Kolkata worsened and a lot of anger was seen from the fans in the stadium. Messi was given a huge amount for the entire India tour. The organizer of the event and Satadru Dutta, who was arrested by the police, has told how much was spent on Messi and where that money came from.
According to the agency, Dutta told the SIT, “Lionel Messi was given Rs 89 crore for the tour, while Rs 11 crore was given to the Government of India as tax, taking the total expenditure to Rs 100 crore.” Sources said that 30 percent of this amount came from sponsors, while the remaining 30 percent came from the sale of tickets. SIT officials found more than Rs 20 crore in Dutta’s frozen bank accounts.
The SIT official said that after raiding Dutta’s house on Friday, many documents were seized. “Datta claimed that the money in his bank account came from selling tickets and sponsoring Messi events in Kolkata and Hyderabad. We are investigating his claims,” the officer said. Thousands of spectators had bought expensive tickets to watch the event at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, but the event turned into chaos when a large number of people gathered around Messi on the ground, making him barely visible from the gallery and provoking anger among the fans, some of whom later vandalized parts of the stadium.
The West Bengal government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising senior IPS officers Piyush Pandey, Javed Shamim, Supratim Sarkar and Muralidhar to probe the vandalism at Argentina football star Lionel Messi’s event at the Salt Lake Stadium. The official said the SIT is also investigating security lapses, violation of access rules and the role of organizers and officials in the incident. Satadru Dutta, the arrested chief organizer of the Lionel Messi event on December 13, has told investigators that the football icon “did not like being touched or hugged” during his presence at the Salt Lake Stadium and he left the venue ahead of schedule, an SIT source said on Saturday.
During lengthy questioning by Special Investigation Team (SIT) officials, Dutta said that Messi did not like being touched on the back or hugged and that this concern had already been conveyed to the foreign security officials responsible for the footballer’s security. The source said Dutta told investigators during questioning on Friday, “Despite repeated public announcements to stop the crowd, there was no effect. The way Messi was surrounded and hugged was not at all acceptable for a World Cup-winning footballer.”
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