Former Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas on Monday failed to appear before police for questioning in connection with the probe into alleged irregularities surrounding an event featuring Argentine football star Lionel Messi, an officer said.
Police had issued a third notice to the Trinamool Congress leader on Saturday, directing him to appear before Bidhannagar Dakshin police station within 48 hours. The deadline expired at noon on Monday, but Biswas did not turn up, he said.
This is the third consecutive time that Biswas has skipped police summons in the case, he added.
The Calcutta High Court had earlier granted him conditional protection from coercive action while directing him to cooperate with the investigation.
Police said Biswas's current whereabouts were not immediately known.
On June 5, the former minister had written to Bidhannagar Dakshin police station seeking two weeks' time to appear, citing health reasons.
The case stems from a complaint lodged by event organiser Shatadru Dutta, who accused Biswas of ticket black-marketing, extortion, cheating and criminal intimidation in connection with the high-profile football event held at Salt Lake Stadium on December 13 last year, featuring Messi.
An FIR was registered on May 17 under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including cheating, extortion and criminal intimidation.
Dutta has alleged that nearly 22,000 tickets for the event were sold in the black market and claimed that Biswas used his position as sports minister to exert undue influence over the programme.
The event had ended with sections of spectators allegedly vandalising parts of the stadium, claiming that they failed to catch a glimpse of Messi despite paying thousands of rupees for a ticket as influential people kept him surrounded on the ground.
Dutta was later arrested in connection with the case and spent 37 days in custody before securing bail. After his release, he repeatedly accused Biswas of being responsible for the event's failure and the financial losses suffered by the organisers.
Newly-appointed Sports Minister Indranil Khan has also recently alleged serious mismanagement during the Messi event and claimed the episode had embarrassed football fans in Bengal.