Lionel Messi Kolkata event chaos: Aroop Biswas appears for questioning after ducking Bengal Police summons thrice

Former sports, youth affairs and power minister of West bengal, Aroop Biswas, on Thursday morning appeared for questioning after ducking police summons thrice in connection with the alleged irregularities during Lionel Messi’s ‘GOAT India Tour’ event at Salt Lake’s Yuba Bharati Krirangan on December 13 last year.

On June 18, Biswas was spotted arriving at the Bidhannagar (South) Police Station in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal to face questioning in the case, IANS reported.

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SaltLake, West Bengal: Former state minister Aroop Biswas arrived at Bidhannagar South Police Station to appear before the investigation regarding the controversy surrounding Lionel Messi’s December 2025 event in Kolkata pic.twitter.com/C7fw2qR5c6

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— IANS (@ians_india) June 18, 2026

This comes after police summoned the former Bengal minister for interrogation thrice in the matter. However, he did not appear at the said police station for interrogation.

On June 10, a single-judge Bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya of the Calcutta High Court had granted Biswas protection from coercive police action including arrest until August 17.

Later on, Satadru Dutta, the principal organiser of the Messi event, approached the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court’s Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen on June 16 to challenge the decision of the single-judge Bench granting interim protection to Biswas.

Biswas remained untraceable ever since an FIR was lodged against him in connection with the matter. It was filed based on the complaint from Dutta at Bidhannagar (South) Police Station. Dutta held the former sports minister as the main person responsible for the Messi event mismanagement.

Dutta was himself taken into custody by police last year when Biswas was a member of the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Cabinet.