Police have issued fresh summons to Bengal’s former sports minister in the Messi mess case

Argentina soccer player Lionel Messi with West Bengal Sports and Youth Minister Aroop Biswas at the Salt Lake Stadium during his GOAT India Tour 2025 in Kolkata on December 13, 2026. | Photo credit: ANI

Police on Saturday (Jun 13, 2026) issued a new notice to former West Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas, asking him to appear before investigators within 48 hours for questioning in a case related to the chaos at Lionel Messi’s Salt Lake Stadium event in December.

Mr. Biswas failed to comply with two summons sent by the Bidhannagar police to appear before them for questioning in the case. He took time out to appear, citing personal reasons, sources said.

The police delivered the third notice to the former minister’s address.

This comes after the Calcutta High Court granted Mr Biswas protection from coercive action till August 17 and ordered him to appear before the investigating agency on its summons, to be served at least 48 hours in advance.

The case stems from an FIR filed against him by event organizer Shatadra Dutta, accusing the former minister of blackmailing tickets, extortion, intimidation and cheating in connection with a major football event in December 2005.

The event at the Salt Lake Stadium on 13 December 2025 descended into chaos after a large number of people entered the venue allegedly without valid access, leading to security breaches and crowd disturbances.

Many spectators who bought expensive tickets complained that they could not see Messi properly or enjoy the program due to overcrowding and poor management.

Messi quickly left the ground amid a riot, after which sections of the stadium were vandalized by sections of the angry crowd.

The controversy created a political storm at the time, with fingers being pointed at the then Sports Minister Aroop Biswas for alleged lapses in planning and crowd management.

Mr Dutta was subsequently arrested by the police and spent 37 days in custody before securing bail. After his release, he blamed Mr. Biswas for the collapse of the event and the losses incurred by the organizers.

Published – 13 Jun 2026 14:01 IST