Former TMC Minister Aroop Biswas served notice for third time, asked to appear at police station by 48 hours

Former Trinamool Congress Minister Aroop Biswas was served notice for the third time in the case pertaining to the Messi fiasco at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

The ex-Sports Minister has so far not responded to the earlier summons issued by the police in the December 2025 case and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

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Biswas had even sought relief from the Calcutta High Court. The court said that the former Minister cannot evade questioning by the police. Following the court’s directive the Bidhannagar South police station issed a fresh notice against him.

During the court’s hearing, Calcutta High Court judge Sougata Bhattacharyya said that if the police summons him, Biswas will have no choice but to be present at the police station on the designated date. The court also directed that there should not be any stay on the investigation.

In the meantime, Aroop Biswas’s brother Swaroop Biswas, who was arrested by the police over allegations of asking for sexual favours against work.

On June 8, the Calcutta High Court had given Aroop Biswas protection from any coercise action taken by the police till August 17, however under certain conditions. Aroop has been asked to hand over his passport to the investigators. He has also been asked not to leave his police area without the permission of the local police. Aroop has also been directed to cooperate with the investigation.

What happened at Salt Lake Stadium

Severe crowd mismanagement at the Salt Lake Stadium forced Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi to cut short his appearance, leading to anger, vandalism and a police crackdown inside the venue.

Messi who was in India as part of his GOAT Tour, was forced to cut short his lap of honour at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake after an uncontrollable surge in the crowd.

Plastic bottles were thrown, tempers flared, and security officials hurried him off the pitch within minutes, denying thousands of fans the glimpse they had waited hours, and paid heavily for.

What is the case about

On May 17, Shatadru Dutta, the organizer of Messi’s ‘GOAT Tour’, filed an FIR against Aroop Biswas at the Bidhannagar South police station accusing him of offenses under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The FIR mentioned cited charges such as black-marketing of event tickets, extortion, criminal intimidation, negligence regarding security, for the mega event at Salt Lake Stadium. Based on this complaint, the police had initially ordered Aroop Biswas to appear at the station on June 4.

The Ghosting

Aroop Biswas initially contacted the police station mentioning that he will not be able to be present at the police station on June 4 citing illness, adding that he will not be able to appear before the police in the next two weeks.

The police however asked Swaroop Biswas to appear at the Bidhannagar South Police Station by 11:00 am on June 8 after pasting notices at the former minister’s residence. The notices mentioned that he he had failed to provide any proof of his illness and had not submitted any medical reports.

However, even then, Aroop failed to appear in person on June 8, and did not even communicate it to the police station.

Meanwhile, Aroop had applied for anticipatory bail at the Barasat court but his application was rejected. He later moved the Calcutta High Court, where he initially faced a setback. However, the High Court subsequently ruled that the TMC leader should be informed via notice 48 hours prior to any summons.