Messi event chaos: Police summon 6 event managers

 

 

 

THE West Bengal Police on Monday sent summons to officials of six companies, which were also involved in organising the Lionel Messi event at the Salt Lake stadium, where spectators resorted to large-scale chaos and vandalism two days ago, alleging “gross mismanagement”, an officer said. Acting on an FIR on the spectator rampage that led to an estimated loss of over Rs 2 crore of stadium properties, police have also arrested five people so far on charges of vandalism and assault on police personnel.

 

Among the notices which were served to the event organisers included those to Laltu Das, manager of Satadru Datta – the now arrested prime organiser of the event, police said. Summonses were also dispatched by the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate to Manali Bhattacharya, an event manager, Supriya Dasgupta, Sambaran Karmakar, Aditya Das and Amit Kumar, a senior official of a food delivery aggregator.

 

All six officials, police said, were involved in managing the marquee event at the stadium in their respective capacities. They have been asked to be present for questioning at the commissionerate office on Tuesday, the police officer added. Sources said that Das, who represented organiser Satadru Datta at a meeting with senior police officials, where the standard operating procedures were discussed threadbare a day prior to the December 13 programme, will be questioned for allegedly violating the dos and don’ts while organising the event.

 

The police are also trying to pinpoint accountability for allowing unauthorised food and beverage sales inside the stadium, the containers of which were later used as missiles by the irate crowd during the rampage. Meanwhile, the Bidhannagar Police arrested five spectators on charges of vandalism and destruction of public property during the stadium violence. WB Governor flags management lapses, to submit report to Centre: WEST Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Monday termed the recent chaos during Lionel Messi’s event at the Salt Lake stadium here as “management failure” and said he would submit to the Centre a “pro-people report” on the incident.

 

Speaking to reporters at the Lok Bhavan here, Bose said the episode “hurt the sentiments of football lovers everywhere” and “undermined the dignity of the common man, particularly those who are fans of football”. “It is going to be a pro-people report, which I will be submitting to the government of India and also suggestions given to the state government,” Bose said.

 

HC to hear petitions seeking transfer of probe to central agencies: RIPPLES of Saturday’s Salt Lake stadium spectator rampage during Argentine football legend Lionel Messi showcasing event reached the corridors of the Calcutta High Court on Monday after Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Pal allowed the filing of three separate PILs related to the fiasco. The petitions sought the court’s intervention to transfer the probe into the stadium violence to central agencies such as the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). The petitions, separately moved by the state’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and advocates Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay and Mainak Ghoshal, are likely to be heard together by the court later this week.