Image: IANS
KOLKATA: Football legend Lionel Messi’s India Tour event organiser and the prime accused in the Salt Lake Stadium chaos, Satadru Dutta, has claimed “influential people” pressured him to triple the number of access cards for the event. This, he claimed, led to Messi feeling “unhappy about being touched or hugged” by random people.Dutta, arrested within hours of the chaos, also told Kolkata police SIT that Messi was paid Rs 89 crore for the India tour, while Rs 11 crore was paid as tax to govt. “Dutta claimed that Rs 100 crore was spent on the Messi tour, with some funds coming from sponsors and the rest from ticket sales. However, the total amount attributed to ticket sales and sponsors accounts for only 60-70% of the total cost, prompting investigators to doubt his claims,” a police officer said.Police have seized Rs 22 crore from Dutta’s bank accounts and frozen them. SIT carried out a raid at Dutta’s residence in Rishra on Friday.Investigators suspect black money may have been used in organising Messi’s show. However, it is not yet clear whether the seized amount includes proceeds from ticket sales or funds received from sponsors. Police also said Dutta had not made any specific statements regarding financial irregularities linked to the event.Police said Dutta blamed “everyone” around Messi on Dec 13 for the chaos.So far, Bengal police have registered two cases in connection with the incident. Several non-bailable charges have also been filed against Dutta.
