Kolkata Court Denies Bail to Messi India Trip Organiser Satadru Dutta in Salt Lake Stadium Vandalism Case
A West Bengal court on Sunday refused bail to Satadru Dutta, the chief organiser of Lionel Messi's recent India trip, and remanded him to further 14 days in police custody in connection with the vandalism at the Salt Lake stadium during the Argentine soccer icon's programme.
This is the third time that Dutta's bail petition has been rejected by the Bidhannagar ACJM Court after the state government counsel argued that his release might affect the ongoing commission probe and SIT inquiry since he is "very influential and may run away" from the country.
Dutta was arrested at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here on December 13 before he could board a flight to accompany Messi to Hyderabad, hours after the massive ransacking and vandalisim at the Salt Lake Stadium.
The disturbances started after the fans, who had purchased high-priced tickets, got enraged as they could not see Messi as he was practically surrounded by the VIPs and celebrities on the ground.
Police have already seized Rs 22 crore from Dutta's various bank accounts and frozen the accounts following leads from the SIT, formed by the state, which carried out a raid on his Rishra residence recently.
With the Hindu scripture Gita in his hand, Dutta appeared before the ACJM court at Bidhannagar, but the judge further remanded him to 14 days' police custody after the government counsel opposed the bail petitio,n saying his release would affect the ongoing inquiry.
Special Public Prosecutor Bivash Chatterjee told the court that Dutta is an influential person and under his management, about Rs 19 crore worth of tickets were sold to some 34,567 buyers for the Messi show.
Dutta's counsel told the court that his client was innocent and had nothing to do with the chaos in the stadium, citing that no such incident happened elsewhere where the Argentinian great visited - Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi - during the India trip.
Countering, the PP said in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad, there were separate event management teams, but in Kolkata, Dutta was solely responsible as the host of the show.
