On Monday (December 15, 2025), a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Pal, allowed three PILs to be filed on the incident. File | Photo credit: The Hindu
The Calcutta High Court is set to hear three Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petitions seeking a probe by central investigating agencies into the violence and vandalism that took place during an event involving Argentine footballer Lionel Messi at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
On Monday (December 15, 2025), a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Pal, allowed three PILs to be filed on the incident. The petitioners include West Bengal Assembly Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, advocate Sabyasachi Chatterjee and advocate Mainak Ghosal.
In the PIL, the petitioners sought the court’s intervention in handing over the investigation from the West Bengal Police to central investigative agencies such as the Central Serious Fraud Investigation and Investigation Bureau (SFIO) to probe the mismanagement that led to the chaos and the monetary transactions behind the incident.
Thousands of football fans were left disgruntled after they were reportedly denied a chance to see Messi on Saturday (December 13, 2025) despite having tickets to see Messi’s GOAT in India in Kolkata. Fans claimed the soccer star made a very brief appearance, surrounded by a “large crowd of VIPs” who allegedly blocked the audience’s view.
A place of vandalism
Shortly after, violence broke out among the fans and part of the audience was vandalized. As of 15 December, the Bidhannagar police arrested five spectators in connection with the chaos and violence that broke out at the Salt Lake Stadium.
The main organizer, Satadru Dutta, was also arrested and remanded in police custody for 14 days. The police summoned Mr. Dutta’s manager, Lalta Das, and five people from the organizing and organizing team.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee set up a high-powered inquiry committee headed by Justice (retired) Ashim Kumar Ray and its members include the Principal Secretary and Additional Principal Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Mountain Affairs to investigate the incident.
“During the hearing (of the petition), we will seek to stay on the First Information Reports (against the viewers). It is a grave injustice to the young fans who have saved their hard-earned money or borrowed money to see Messi. Why should they be arrested while ministers Sujit Bose and Aroop Biswas are walking around without a chance? Mr. Biswas should be arrested first on the question of the viewers. Adhika.
The BJP MLA from Nandigram alleged that the state police and the state administration inquiry committee “cannot be trusted” and stressed that the Supreme Court’s intervention was necessary to ensure a transparent investigation.
Advocate Sabyasachi Chatterjee, one of the petitioners, told The Hindu that the inquiry committee set up by the state was invalid and claimed that there was no gazette notification about it.
“We want to remain in the commission of inquiry because it is simply not valid. Investigating financial transactions related to the event under the constitution does not come under state entities, so the commission of inquiry should not be involved in the financial investigation,” Mr Chatterjee said.
Published – 15 Dec 2025 22:15 IST
