Kolkata: The mess during football great Lionel Messi’s visit to Kolkata on Saturday has now taken a legal turn with three separate Public Interest Litigations (PILs) being filed in the Calcutta High Court on Monday.
The PILs have challenged the West Bengal government’s decision to constitute an inquiry committee headed by retired High Court judge Justice Asim Kumar Roy to probe the happenings at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium), where Messi’s event was held.
Messi reached the stadium and was surrounded by scores of people. As things started getting out of hand, security staff assigned to the Argentine captain whisked him away, barely 22 minutes after his arrival. Those who had paid for passes and were seated in the galleries were unable to catch a glimpse of the star.
An enraged mob then resorted to vandalism and destroyed property. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was on her way to the stadium when all of this took place, later apologised to Messi and his fans through a post on X.
The petitioners have urged the court to hand over the investigation to central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), citing the scale of the incident and alleged lapses in crowd management and security, as per The New Indian Express.
The petitioners have sought an independent probe, it has been reported.
Among those who filed PILs was Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari. The two other petitioners are advocates Sabyasachi Chatterjee and Mainak Ghoshal. All three petitions are likely to be heard together later this week.
Adhikari’s counsel, Bilwadal Bhattacharya, sought permission from the court to file the PIL, arguing that a central probe was necessary to “unearth the factors that had triggered vandalism in the stadium”, the newspaper reported.
Adhikari has struck out at the ruling Trinamool Congress ahead of the Assembly elections due next year. He had said on Sunday said his party did not accept the state government’s move to appoint an inquiry committee headed by Justice Roy to probe the incident.
West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose visited the stadium on Sunday. His visit coincided with the inquiry committee’s inspection of the site.
“I came here again to visit the condition of the stadium. Lionel Messi is an international icon to all and vandalism happened during his presence. It’s the failure of the government and police that led the mess. I will verify their role thoroughly,” the Governor said on Sunday.
“I have also met the inquiry committee members at the spot and they are probing it. Saturday’s incident is a shame for all in Kolkata. There might be several more reasons behind the chaos and these are not being properly cleared so far from outside. I will speak to the aggrieved fans and then submit my report,” Bose said.
Satadru Dutta, the main organiser of the event, has, meanwhile, been arrested by the police and demanded to 14-days judicial custody. The police claimed that he did not keep them informed about the additional guests or the fact that fans would be allowed to carry water bottles.
