A court in Bidhannagar on Saturday denied bail to Satadru Dutta, the promoter and organiser of star footballer Lionel Messi’s proposed G.O.A.T India Tour 2025. It remanded him to 14 days of police custody.
Dutta was produced before the court following his arrest in connection with allegations linked to the organisation and promotion of the high-profile football tour. After hearing submissions from the prosecution, the court allowed the police plea for custodial interrogation and sent him to police custody for two weeks.
Dutta was taken into custody on Saturday following widespread chaos at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, which led the Argentine World Cup-winning captain to leave early.
The organiser was arrested by the Bidhannagar Police over “mismanagement” of the event. He was taken into custody at the Kolkata airport, where he had gone to see off Messi and his entourage to Hyderabad.
“We are looking into whether there was any mismanagement from the organiser’s side, which led to the chaos at the stadium. He has been detained, and the police have now brought the situation under control,” West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar said at a press conference.
The tour organiser had given in writing that he would refund the prices of the tickets he sold to the spectators, who were left disappointed after they were unable to catch a glimpse of the footballer due to the chaos.
Agitated spectators had hurled thousands of water bottles, using them as missiles and lobbing them onto the pitch. They even uprooted the bucket seats from the stadium’s gallery to use them as ammunition against the security personnel.
Spectators have alleged that the water bottles were being sold at hefty amounts inside the stadium despite being banned by the police. Police are investigating how organisers allowed sale of bottled waters and beverages inside the stadium premises, especially when they were banned at the event.
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