The investigation into former sports minister Aroop Biswas’s alleged role in the controversy surrounding the Lionel Messi event in the city in December will continue. However, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed police not to initiate any coercive action against him for now.

The court also asked Biswas to surrender his passport to the police.

Biswas has been booked under non-bailable sections and skipped two police summons over the past week. Police sources told the court that they feared he might flee.

However, the bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya observed that there was no immediate need to take Biswas into custody as the investigation progressed.

The court directed the police to file a status report on the probe by August 4. The matter is scheduled to come up for hearing again on August 17.

“No coercive action is to be taken against Aroop Biswas for the time being. The police should continue with their investigation without taking him into their custody,” a lawyer quoted Justice Bhattacharyya as saying.

The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Kishore Datta on behalf of Biswas, seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against him at Bidhannagar (South) police station. The FIR accuses Biswas of extortion and cheating.

The court directed Biswas to deposit his passport with the court and restrained him from leaving the jurisdiction of his local police station, New Alipore, without prior permission from Bidhannagar (South) police station.

“The court asked Biswas to cooperate with the police investigation and directed the police to send the summons to Biswas at least 48 hours before the date of appearance,” the lawyer added.

Biswas, who was the state’s sports and youth affairs minister when the Lionel Messi event was held on December 13, has been accused of cheating, extortion, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and acting with common intention in connection with the vandalism at the Salt Lake Stadium during the ill-fated event.

The FIR against Biswas was lodged at Bidhannagar (South) police station by event organiser Satadru Dutta, who was arrested on the evening of the event in December and is now out on bail.

In his complaint, Dutta alleged that Biswas demanded thousands of complimentary tickets and accreditation cards, and threatened to have the programme cancelled if those demands were not met.

Biswas, according to Dutta’s allegations, “forcefully took around 22,000 complimentary tickets” and later sold them in the “black
market”.