Salt Lake stadium losses during Messi event exceed 23 cr: Cops
Times of India | 29 December 2025
Kolkata: Police on Sunday said losses linked to the Messi event at Salt Lake stadium crossed Rs 23 crore, including nearly Rs 4 crore in damage to infrastructure and vendors. Police estimates show 34,576 tickets were sold, fetching over Rs 19 crore.
Police also alleged that event manager Satadru Dutta did not engage any professional agency to organise the event, claiming it was done to "usurp the money." The ACJM court at Bidhannagar rejected Dutta's bail plea on Sunday. Appearing for Bidhannagar Police, lawyer Bivas Chatterjee told ACJM Abhijeet Pakhrin: "Apart from damage to infrastructure at the stadium, damage to the vendors, viewers suffered losses too. Total loss has exceeded Rs 23 crore, and Dutta's mismanagement is responsible for that."
"While he entered into an agreement with the state govt on Dec 12, 2025, he clinched deals with other vendors much before that. He intentionally allowed food and water bottles to be taken inside. He even entered the football pitch, which he wasn't allowed to do," Chatterjee said. Since Dutta's arrest on Dec 14, police have recorded statements of 21 key witnesses.
On Sunday afternoon, Dutta entered the court premises with a Gita in hand.
His lawyer, Soumyajit Raha, argued that while chaos erupted at Salt Lake stadium, the same company had "successfully and peacefully" organised similar events with Messi during his "GOAT India Tour".
Chatterjee countered that while a professional event management agency was engaged for the shows in Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi, no such agency was hired for the Kolkata event. "It is clear he wanted to usurp the money. We already have proof of unlawful gains," he said.
Raha claimed that Dutta had obtained all necessary permissions and no-objection certificates before the event. He said certain issues led to vandalism and chaos, but Dutta did not breach any commitment to spectators and tried to pacify the crowd. Raha added that events at three other venues were conducted with professional competence.
Raha argued that crowd control, security, entry and exit management, and maintenance of law and order were the responsibility of the police and administration. He added that the Centre had provided Z-category security to Messi and that there was no intelligence input about any pre-planned chaos.
Opposing the bail plea, Chatterjee claimed that Dutta is an influential person and the investigation is at a preliminary stage.
The judge sent Dutta to judicial custody till Jan 9.