Lionel Messi during the India tour event in Kolkata© AFP
Sports promoter Satadru Dutta, who was responsible for Lionel Messi‘s India tour, said that he regrets organising the events involving the Argentine superstar. The Messi event in Kolkata sparked a massive controversy as the footballer left the Salt Lake Stadium after just 25 minutes amid massive mismanagement and a major lack of crowd control. Dutta expressed his deep remorse regarding the incident and even expressed fear at what could have happened due to the security breakdown. “Absolutely, I regret it. I could have sold this event elsewhere and made more money. But as a Bengali from Kolkata, I wanted football fans here to experience it. I never imagined that one immature person trying to create his own mileage would destroy the entire event,” Satadru Dutta said in an interview with the Hindustan Times.
Satadru was arrested by the police following the incident and even spent 38 days in custody. He has now levelled stunning allegations against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government and alleged that the event was sabotaged by political interference and blackmail.
“Messi had close to a billion dollars in insurance coverage. Imagine if something had happened to him on the ground, it would have become a national embarrassment. That’s why Messi’s team decided they could not continue because he doesn’t like claustrophobic situations where people crowd around him,” he said.
“I’ve been organising stadium events for the last 15 years, and this has never happened before. Usually, taking two or three extra pictures is normal. But here somebody turned it into a private event, calling bureaucrats, family members and others for pictures. The DG and the CP were standing there, and nobody stopped them. I kept shouting and requesting them to clear the ground, but nobody listened. There were at least a thousand police personnel inside the stadium,” he added.
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