KOLKATA: Aroop Biswas on Tuesday stepped down as West Bengal sports minister following the controversy over the chaos at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium when football legend Lionel Messi made a brief appearance on December 13, people familiar with the matter said.
Biswas’s handwritten letter to the chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked her to relieve him of the responsibility as sports minister to ensure an impartial probe into the rampage at the stadium by a section of spectators who bought tickets to see Messi but flared up when he left in a hurry because of mismanagement.
A Bengal cabinet minister said Banerjee has accepted Biswas’s request. “She will look after the sports department until the inquiries ordered into the incident are over,” the minister told HT.
There was no official statement from the government regarding the resignation dated December 12. A letter from the chief minister to the state chief secretary accepted his offer and relieved him of his responsibilities as sports minister until the probe was completed.
To be sure, Biswas will continue to hold charge as the state’s power minister.
News of Biswas’s resignation coincided with the government announcing its decision to issue show cause notices to top police officers of the state, including director general of police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar, and suspending Bidhannagar deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Aneesh Sarkar.
Satadru Dutta, the private organiser of Messi’s West Bengal tour, was arrested within hours of the incident. A North 24 Parganas district court remanded him in police custody for two weeks on December 14.
A government order issued on Tuesday said the DGP had to clarify “why such mismanagement and lapses happened in the stadium on that day and why proper coordination with concerned stakeholders, including the private organiser, was not carried out so as to ensure smooth conduct of the event.”
HT has reviewed the order.
It also said departmental proceedings have been initiated against Sarkar “for his reported negligence in his duties and responsibilities on the day of the event”
Apart from the DGP, the government said it has also issued a show-cause notice to Bidhannagar police commissioner Mukesh Kumar and principal secretary of sports department Rajesh Kumar Sinha and told to reply in 24 hours. Debkumar Nandan, the CEO of Salt Lake stadium, was also removed.
The action against the DGP, which was described as unprecedented by several bureaucrats, surprised many. Rajeev Kumar, a 1989-batch IPS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, earlier served as the commissioner of Kolkata police.
The show cause notices were issued following the preliminary report submitted on Monday by a three-member inquiry committee headed by retired Calcutta high court judge Asim Kumar Roy. This committee also comprised chief secretary Manoj Pant and home secretary Nandini Chakraborty.
Acting on the committee’s recommendation, the government has formed a special investigation team (SIT) of four senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, including Director, Security, Peeyush Pandey, to conduct a “thorough order” into the December 13 event. The other three officers are additional DG (law and order) Jawed Shamim, ADG South Bengal Supratim Sarkar and Barrackpore police commissioner Murlidhar.
Chief secretary Pant said the SIT has been set up to probe the role of the police.
The committee’s preliminary report raised questions on the role of the police and the sale of water bottles inside the stadium in violation of safety rules. “We have recommended the formation of an SIT to probe the role of the police. We have asked how stalls were set up for the sale of bottled water inside the stadium. Our preliminary inquiry showed that the responsibility for this violation lies with those who were on duty,” the retired judge told reporters on Tuesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has targeted the TMC over this incident, alleged that the disciplinary actions were an eyewash. “The show cause letters and the minister’s resignation are an eyewash. Biswas and fire services minister Sujit Bose, who was also at the event, should be arrested,” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said.
Kunal Ghosh refuted the allegation. “The chief minister has performed Raj Dharma by taking action against the officers. The minister volunteered to resign by accepting responsibility,” Ghosh said.
Most of the spectators in the 50,000-strong crowd seen at the stadium had purchased tickets priced between ₹4,500 and ₹18,000.
However, Messi’s much-anticipated visit to the stadium, as part of the “GOAT (greatest of all time) tour”, lasted barely 22 minutes.
The tour, which comprises a series of promotional events covering Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi, began with Messi virtually unveiling a 70ft statue of himself due to security concerns. Shortly after this, he left for the Salt Lake Stadium, where his fans had been waiting since around 4 am.
The first signs of trouble surfaced around 15 minutes after Messi and his Inter Miami teammates, Luis Suárez and Rodrigo de Paul, arrived at the stadium around 11.30 am.
Within minutes, Messi found himself surrounded by politicians, police, VIPs and their entourages who formed a wall that left spectators with a view of everything but the man they came to see. “We want to see Messi,” the fans shouted frantically from the stands.
Mamata Banerjee apologised within hours of the incident and ordered an inquiry.
