Vandalism at Messi's event: Two arrested; six company officials summoned

Kolkata, Dec 15 Police have arrested two people in connection with the incident at the Salt Lake Stadium, officially known as Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, during Lionel Messi's event on Saturday.

A senior officer of Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said on Monday that the two were arrested from the Nagerbazar area by officers of the South Bidhannagar police station. The arrested individuals have been identified as Gaurav Basu and Shubhrapratim Dey.

According to police sources, these two were identified from CCTV footage of the vandalism at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan stadium.

The police have registered an FIR against the arrested individuals under eight specific sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. These sections include charges of obstructing a government official from discharging their duty, intentionally injuring a government official, causing grievous hurt to a government official on duty and creating a nuisance.

Additionally, FIRs have been registered under specific sections of the law for damaging government property and disturbing public peace.

On Saturday, chaos erupted at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan stadium in Salt Lake, surrounding Lionel Messi's visit to Kolkata. Messi, Suarez, and Di Maria did visit the stadium, but they left after only about 22 minutes. During the time Messi and his teammates were at the stadium, they were surrounded by a large crowd, including state Sports Minister Aroop Biswas.

Due to this crowd, the spectators in the stands could barely see Messi. As a result, after Messi and his teammates left the stadium, public anger erupted at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan. The expression of outrage started with tearing down hoardings in the galleries, citing mismanagement. This was followed by a barrage of bottles being thrown from the galleries towards the field.

The anger gradually escalated, leading to the destruction of chairs in the galleries. Finally, the fencing around the field was broken, and angry crowds stormed onto the pitch from all sides.

Since the incident, various videos of Saturday's rampage have been circulating on social media. The police have already taken note of these videos. They also started examining the CCTV footage. Based on the analysis of this CCTV footage, the Bidhannagar police identified Gaurav and Shubhrapratim. Accordingly, they were arrested on Monday morning.

"Two people have been arrested. The CCTV footage is being examined to identify others who had indulged in vandalism," said the senior police officer.

Following the rampage at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan, Satadru Dutta, the main organiser of Messi's Kolkata visit, was arrested from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on Saturday. The Bidhannagar police have registered a case against him on charges including inciting violence, causing injury, damaging property, obstructing government work and harassing government employees.

The court has already ordered him to be remanded for 14 days of police custody.

Meanwhile, the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate has summoned six people in connection with Saturday's incident. They are representatives of six different companies. It is reported that officials from Satadru Dutta's company are also among them. They have been asked to appear at the police station on Tuesday.

According to Bidhannagar police sources, all those summoned were involved in Saturday's event in some way. The six companies were each responsible for different aspects of the event. The police have summoned representatives of the companies responsible for supplying water and cold drinks, as well as those responsible for ticket distribution.

The police have also instructed the ticket distribution company to freeze its accounts. They have also been told to ensure that no money reaches Satadru's company. The representatives of these companies will be questioned at the police station on Tuesday. Their roles in the organisation of the event and whether there was any negligence on their part will be investigated.

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