Ex-West Bengal minister Aroop Biswas issued fresh police notice in Kolkata Messi case

Kolkata: Bidhannagar (South) police on Sunday issued a fresh summons to former West Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas, asking him to appear for questioning by Monday in connection with an FIR over alleged vandalism at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan during Lionel Messi’s GOAT India Tour on December 13 last year.

This is the second notice served to Biswas. The first, issued on June 2, asked him to appear on June 5; Biswas replied on June 4 seeking a 14 day postponement on medical grounds and submitted a medical certificate. Investigating officers have now directed him to report to the Bidhannagar (South) police station by the afternoon of June 8.

The FIR was registered on May 30 following a complaint by the event’s main organiser, Satadru Dutta, who alleged that Biswas and others were involved in black marketing about 22,000 tickets and implicated them in vandalism at the stadium. Dutta had filed the written complaint on May 17. During the previous Trinamool Congress administration, police had briefly arrested Dutta in connection with the stadium incident; he was later granted bail.

Separately, Swarup Biswas, Aroop Biswas’s younger brother, was arrested on charges including corruption, extortion and alleged misconduct towards women staff in the Bengali film industry. A Kolkata lower court on Saturday remanded Swarup Biswas to 14 days of police custody.

Aroop Biswas, a four time Trinamool Congress MLA from Tollygunge, lost the recent assembly election to BJP candidate Papiya Adhikari by over 6,000 votes. Following registration of the FIR, Dutta publicly thanked Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, state Sports Minister Nishith Pramanik and DGP Sidh Nath Gupta for action in the matter. The new sports minister had earlier indicated plans to probe the “Messi event” controversy.

(Inputs from IANS)