Messi event chaos: Inquiry panel members inspect Salt Lake stadium, take stock of damage

KOLKATA: A day after spectators went on a rampage during Argentine football icon Lionel Messi’s event at Salt Lake stadium here, members of an inquiry committee visited the venue on Sunday and took stock of the damage, officials said.

The three-member team examined broken plastic chairs, twisted metal barricades and littered galleries during their on-ground inspection of the stadium, one of India’s largest football arenas, they said.

Led by retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Ashim Kumar Ray, the committee members started their inspection from the point, where Messi had entered the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan, and tried to trace his movement inside the stadium, the officials said.

The panel, also comprising Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and Home Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, inspected entry corridors, security arrangements during the December 13 event and adjoining galleries, they said.

Cleaning and restoration work were halted to allow the panel to assess the scale of damage and reconstruct the sequence of events that led to the chaos, one of the officials said.

Scattered footwear, torn banners, broken railings and damaged fibreglass seats were visible across several blocks of the stadium gallery, while police personnel guarded sections of the venue as the panel examined security arrangements and crowd flow patterns, another official said.

Officials accompanying the committee members carried out videography and photography throughout the inspection to gather evidence on the extent of vandalism for the investigation, he said.

What was supposed to be a marquee football spectacle turned into widespread violence and disorder at the stadium on Saturday after Messi’s brief and tightly ring-fenced appearance, his first at the venue since 2011, left large sections of the crowd frustrated, as they failed to catch a glimpse of their superstar despite having travelled from far and wide, paying hefty sums for tickets.

The committee, set up by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has been tasked with fixing responsibility for the lapses and recommending corrective steps to prevent a repeat of such incidents at high-profile events.

An FIR has been registered, and the police have arrested the main organiser on charges of mismanagement and public disorder.

Banerjee had on Saturday apologised to Messi and football fans and announced the formation of the high-level committee to ensure accountability.