Alleging “gross mismanagement,” the West Bengal Police on Monday summoned representatives of six organizations responsible for overseeing different facets of the Lionel Messi event at the Salt Lake stadium, where spectators descended into widespread chaos and vandalism two days prior. Five persons have been arrested so far on accusations of vandalism and assault on police officers in response to a formal complaint regarding the spectator outburst that resulted in an estimated damage of over ₹2 crore in stadium property.
Laltu Das, the manager of Satadru Datta, the event’s primary organizer who is currently under arrest, was one of the warnings sent to the event organizers, according to police. The Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate also sent summonses to Amit Kumar, a senior officer of a food delivery aggregator, Supriya Dasgupta, Sambaran Karmakar, Aditya Das, and Manali Bhattacharya, an event manager. According to the police, each of the six authorities played a role in overseeing the stadium’s major event.
The police officer stated that they have been invited to appear at the commissionerate office on Tuesday for interrogation. According to sources, Das will be questioned for allegedly breaking the dos and don’ts when planning the event. Das represented organizer Satadru Datta at a meeting with senior police officials one day before the December 13 program, where the standard operating procedures were thoroughly discussed.
Additionally, the authorities are attempting to identify who is responsible for permitting unapproved food and drink sales into the stadium, the containers of which the enraged crowd later used as projectiles during the rampage. Five people were detained by the Bidhannagar Police on suspicion of vandalism and destruction of public property during the incident at the stadium.
According to the police, the individuals were apprehended under pertinent parts of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita concerning destruction of public property, impeding public servants from performing their duties, and attacking persons in uniform after being identified based on video footage evidence. According to the officer, the procedure of identifying and apprehending other perpetrators in the stadium violence and vandalism is presently in progress.
Shortly after the stadium incident on Saturday, Satadru Datta, the main organizer of the major event, was taken into custody. The number of arrests now stands at six according to the most recent bookings.
