Police probing the fiasco at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday will summon some members of the event management team, led by Satadru Dutta, that had organised Lionel Messi’s tour to India.
Police said the team members, who were involved in Saturday’s event, would be summoned and questioned to find out the exact reason that prompted Messi to cut short his visit and leave the venue after spending only 22 minutes inside the stadium and the vandalism that followed.
Sources said Satadru Dutta, the primary organiser, has reportedly told the police during interrogation that Messi left the venue because he was “upset” over something, it had “nothing to do” with the event management agency.
“A group of men surrounding Messi made it impossible for the spectators to see him in the field. A section of people got angry and started the rampage,” said a police officer.
Messi was provided Z-category security, which made him eligible to get a security ring comprising Central Reserve Police Force personnel. On Sunday, the police submitted to the court that Messi’s security was managed by the central forces and the private security agency hired by Dutta’s team.
Members of the enquiry committee, formed to carry out a parallel probe, visited the stadium on Sunday.
The committee, comprising Justice (Retd) Ashim Kumar Ray, Bengal chief secretary Manoj Pant and home secretary Nandini Chakravorty, visited the stadium around 11am and left around 2.50pm along with Bidhannagar city police commissioner Mukesh.
Justice (Retd) Ashim Kumar Ray, the committee’s chairman, said: “We have already begun the investigation. On Saturday night, we outlined and agreed on the road map. We went to the location, assessed the scene, and gathered whatever information we could. I cannot arrive at any conclusions before the trial... We are striving to discover the truth.”
“We are an inquiry commission, we are investigating. We have been told by the government to give a reference and to recommend measures, so that such incidents do not take place in future,” he added.
Manoj Pant said: “We have done the videography and the photography. We have the directions to submit the reports within 15 days. We will investigate and give the reports. We will investigate all the aspects, today was the first day we saw the condition of the stadium. We have discussed it initially. We will do everything that comes under the boundary of investigation.”
The police said they were analysing CCTV footage to identify the people who carried out the rampage.