Adhikari, others file PIL in HC for Messi mess
Bengal Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday moved the Calcutta High Court seeking investigations by central agencies into Saturday’s vandalism inside Kolkata’s Yuva Bharati Stadium at Salt Lake after the much-hyped event featuring soccer legend Lionel Messi and two of his other teammates botched, triggering mass ire among the spectators and prompting the soccer legend to leave the stadium in a hurry.
The petition filed in the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Pal urged the Court to hand over the investigation to central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). Two separate petitions were also filed by advocates Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay and Mainak Ghoshal. The court was likely to hear the petitions next week.
Alleging that “whatever the Trinamool Congress touches ends up in a scam,” Adhikari asked the people to change the Mamata Banerjee Government so as to enjoy cleaner events in the future.
“There is not a single event taken up by the TMC or its government that does not end up in a scam, and this time they have brought humiliation to Bengal worldwide. Why couldn’t Kolkata do what Hyderabad did, what Fadnavis’ Mumbai did, or what Rekha Gupta’s Delhi did? This is why we ask you to discard TMC and bring the BJP, and we promise you to bring Messi once again and organise a decent programme that Kolkata and its sports lovers deserve,” Adhikari said, adding the people of the state had no faith in the inquiry ordered by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“The Chief Minister has ordered an inquiry with the State Chief Secretary and Home Secretary as its members. It is led by a retired judge who happens to be her neighbour in the Kalighat area. We want the truth to come out. Thousands of rupees were charged from the visitors for the programme, but they felt cheated, as throughout the programme the TMC ministers, their relatives and some pet celebrities surrounded Messi, depriving the people who had paid for their tickets of even a glimpse. “My question is, what were the men of Chief Minister and Sports Minister Arup Biswas doing inside the stadium? Why were so many people allowed by the police, which is handled by the Home Department, and the Chief Minister is also the Home Minister?” Adhikari thundered, adding, “There is a big scam, and that has to be investigated, so we are asking for an investigation by central agencies.”
There was chaos on Saturday inside the stadium when thousands of ticket-holding fans literally invaded the field after they failed to get a glimpse of the soccer star. While frustration led to anger, they ransacked the stadium, damaging property worth Rs 2 crore.
Meanwhile, the Bengal Police on Monday arrested five persons and issued summons to officials of six event management officials.
Summonses were issued to Manali Bhattacharya, an event manager; Supriya Dasgupta; Sambaran Karmakar; Aditya Das; and Amit Kumar, a senior official of a food delivery aggregator, sources said. The main organiser, Shatadru Dutta, was arrested on Saturday at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.
