Messi event chaos: Court extends police custody of chief organiser till Jan 9
Kolkata (PTI): A court in West Bengal on Sunday extended till January 9 the police custody of Satadru Dutta, the chief organiser of Argentine footballer Lionel Messi's event that dissolved into disorder earlier this month.
After the completion of his initial police custody, Dutta was produced before the Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Court, where public prosecutors levelled multiple charges against him.
Dutta, who was arrested on December 13 over alleged mismanagement in the Salt Lake stadium event on that day, was also accused of entering into contracts with food and beverage suppliers without prior government approval and being involved in alleged corruption amounting to Rs 23 crore.
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The prosecution emphasised that Dutta wields significant influence, and for this reason, he should not be granted bail.
"The investigation requires further probe into the financial transactions and pre-planned arrangements for the event. His bail plea was rejected, and he (Dutta) was sent to police custody till January 9," a senior police officer told reporters outside the court.
Dutta was seen entering the courtroom holding a copy of the Gita.
His bail plea, moved by his counsel, was opposed by the prosecution, which described the incident as pre-planned and alleged that Dutta was the main person behind the alleged mismanagement.
The police informed the court that a contract for supplying food and beverages at the stadium had been finalised even before discussions were held with the administration for arrangements during Messi's programme.
According to the police, the official food and beverage contract value stood at Rs 40 lakh while Dutta allegedly received Rs 60 lakh in cash.
It was also stated that tickets worth around Rs 19 crore were sold for the event, with over 34,000 tickets purchased.
The police told the court that Messi left the field within 20 minutes of the programme, alleging that this too was part of a pre-planned sequence.
The police also pointed out that while professional sports event management companies were engaged for Messi events in three other cities, no such company was appointed for the Kolkata programme, a decision that has now come under scrutiny.
What was supposed to be a marquee football spectacle turned into widespread violence and disorder at the stadium on December 13 after Messi’s brief and tightly ring-fenced appearance, his first at the venue since 2011, left large sections of the crowd frustrated.
Angry fans, many of whom had paid Rs 4,000 to Rs 12,000 — and in some cases up to Rs 20,000 in the black market — ran riot at the venue after failing to get even a glimpse of their favourite superstar from Argentina.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
