Messi event chaos: Bengal Guv visits Salt Lake stadium, calls for judicial inquiry

Kolkata, Dec 14 (PTI) A day after chaos erupted during Argentine football icon Lionel Messi’s event at Salt Lake stadium here, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Sunday visited the venue for a first-hand inspection and called for a judicial inquiry.

Bose also urged the government to frame standard operating procedures (SOPs) for managing such events in future.

The governor, accompanied by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and senior police officials, visited the venue for a first-hand assessment of the stadium chaos.

He also said all those responsible for the chaos must be arrested and the organiser must immediately refund ticket prices to spectators.

Notably, Satadru Datta, the chief organiser of the Lionel Messi football event at Salt Lake stadium, was arrested by the Bidhannagar Police on Saturday for “mismanagement” of the event.

Datta was picked up from the Kolkata airport, where he had gone to see off Messi and his entourage on their way to Hyderabad.

Bose said he would submit a detailed report containing recommendations to the state and central governments after interacting with some of the victims.

“My report is almost ready and will be sent to all authorities concerned,” he said, declining to reveal details of it.

The governor emphasised the need for clear protocols for public events in the city, including insurance for spectators, and other short- and long-term measures to prevent such incidents in future.

“When private parties are allowed to commercialise sports and make money, the public should not be the sufferers,” he said after his in-person visit to the stadium.

Bose had been "denied" entry into the Salt Lake stadium on Saturday, after chaos and crowd trouble at the venue marred Messi's event. He had found the gates closed and the stadium lights switched off on his arrival.

The governor had alleged that the move was intended to block his entry and sought a detailed explanation.

Bose had earlier dubbed the incident at the Salt Lake stadium a "dark day for the sports-loving people of Kolkata".

What was supposed to be a marquee football spectacle turned into widespread violence and disorder at the stadium on Saturday after Messi’s brief and tightly ring-fenced appearance, his first at the venue since 2011, left large sections of the crowd frustrated.

They failed to catch a glimpse of their superstar despite having travelled from far and wide, paying hefty sums for tickets.

Notably, members of a high-level inquiry committee, set up by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, also visited the stadium on Sunday to carry out their investigation.

The panel has been headed by retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Ashim Kumar Ray, with Chief Secretary Pant and Home Secretary Nandini Chakravorty being its members. PTI BSM BDC