Newly disclosed particulars have come out concerning the much-discussed India tour of the football superstar Lionel Messi, which came to a tumultuous end and was subsequently assigned for a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT). The event’s organizer has disclosed that the footballer received an enormous sum of ₹89 crore for his stay in India, while the total amount spent on the Argentine superstar was about ₹100 crore.
As per the officials investigating the matter. The main organizer, Satadru Dutta, who was taken into custody after the incident at Salt Lake Stadium, provided important financial and security-related information during his questioning. Dutta told investigators that Messi was uncomfortable with excessive physical contact during the event and left earlier than planned due to crowd management failures.
Security concerns at Salt Lake Stadium
Dutta made it clear to the SIT that Messi was quite picky about his personal space. He “did not like to be involved in physical contact like touching or hugging,” which was a clear and precise requirement made ahead of time by the police of the foreign security of the player. Even after the organizers made persistent announcements asking people to keep away, the superstar was right in the middle of the crowd, hence raising very serious issues about security.
Event pictures revealed that Aroop Biswas, the Sports Minister of West Bengal, was right next to Messi during the ceremony.Biswas later resigned from his post amid allegations that influential individuals were allowed special access to the ground area.
Investigators are examining how crowd control completely broke down. Dutta claimed that while only 150 ground passes were originally issued, the number was allegedly increased threefold after a “very influential person” arrived at the venue, disrupting the event’s security plan.
Messi’s fee and funding sources
During questioning, Dutta disclosed that Messi was paid ₹89 crore for the tour, with an additional ₹11 crore paid as taxes, taking the total expenditure to ₹100 crore. Of this amount, around 30% was raised through sponsorships, while another 30% came from ticket sales.
The SIT has also frozen bank accounts belonging to Dutta, uncovering over ₹20 crore. Againts such funds, the case against the powerful is already rested on the pieces of evidence that together can point to the ticket sales and sponsorship deals only that were conducted for the Kolkata and Hyderabad events.
Investigating into the case of vandalism and neglect is still ongoing
The event’s top-notch tickets sold to thousands of fans, but things turned chaotic when Messi became hardly visible due to the crowd surge. Dynamite spectators subsequently caused damage to the stadium, prompting the state government to set up a high-level SIT.
The inquiry has reached financial malpractice, ticket scattering, security negligence, and the part played by the promoters and authorities in what had intended to be a historic football gala but turned out to be a huge mess.
