Kolkata: A Calcutta High Court division bench will take up on July 2 the final hearing of a challenge to a single bench order granting protection to former West Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas in a case related to the chaos at the Lionel Messi event at Salt Lake Stadium in December.
Petitioner Satadru Dutta had moved the division bench presided by Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, seeking cancellation of the relief granted to Biswas and questioned the legality of the single bench order.
Satadru Dutta is the complainant in the case.
The controversy stems from the chaotic December 2025 Lionel Messi event at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium. The program ended in disorder and vandalism due to severe crowd mismanagement and field overcrowding.
Event organizer Satadru Datta filed a complaint accusing Aroop Biswas of extortion, cheating, and misusing political influence, specifically alleging that the former minister illegally acquired and distributed thousands of tickets, triggering the stadium chaos.
The Calcutta High Court previously granted Aroop Biswas interim protection from arrest, contingent on surrendering his passport and fully cooperating with the Bidhannagar Police.
The organizer and the state have challenged this order before a higher division bench. Additionally, Lionel Messi’s team sent an email to the Bengal police clearing the event promoter of blame and citing security protocol breaches by other individuals as the cause for the cancellation.
