Messi in India: Organiser Dutta gets bail, what about refund for Kolkata?

The fiasco of the Kolkata leg of Leo Messi’s GOAT Tour of India on 13 December 2025 may be receding from public memory, but there has been no tangible progress in the public demand for refund of tickets purchased online for the event. Satadru Dutta, the main organiser of the four-leg tour of the country, was meanwhile granted bail on Monday after 37 days in Bidhannagar Police custody.

The Argentine icon’s visit to Salt Lake Stadium (Yuba Bharati Krirangan) had to be cut short following the chaos as the star footballer’s team left the venue citing security lapses and crowd trouble. Nearly 65,000 people had converged for the morning event, with most paying for tickets priced between Rs 4,000 and 12,000, but left hugely disappointed at not being able to get a clear view of the 'God of football'.

Sheer mayhem descended on the stadium soon after he left, with fans destroying state property — a conservative assessment later pegging the damages at the stadium at Rs 2 crore. Dutta was accused of ‘large-scale mismanagement’ during the Kolkata leg and the authorities claimed he earned an unlawful profit of Rs 20 lakh from selling around 35,000 tickets worth around Rs 19 crore for the event.

“Justice has finally been served,” Dutta’s lawyer Soumyajit Raha said outside the court. “The event was organised by a professional company with all necessary permissions and clearances. The allegations against Satadru are baseless.” Dutta’s bail is a conditional one, where his passport has been impounded and he will have to periodically present himself before the authorities as the investigation is still ongoing.

The key point, meanwhile, is the unanswered demand for ticket refunds as demanded in a PIL filed by opposition political parties of the state. Answering National Herald's query, a close associate of the tainted sports promoter said: ‘’We not aware of any judicial order asking for a refund for tickets.’’ Incidentally, the proceeds for the online sale, conducted through Zomato for the event, still remain frozen.

The controversy also leaves unanswered questions over the role of the state's former sports minister Arup Biswas, who was seen accompanying Messi during the event. Biswas was seen accosting the football great and oblige the photographers’ requests and had been accused of using his ‘influence’ to facilitate entry of countless hangers-on, who looked unmoved despite repeated requests from Dutta over a microphone.

The government has instituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) enquiry which is still in progress while Biswas, a seasoned politican, later stepped down from his ministerial post pending the outcome of the investigation. It proved to be a masterstroke from him in terms of optics, while the argument which cleared the path for Dutta’s release was the ‘slow progress’ of the probe. One can only keep one's fingers crossed for closure, even if it means a partial refund for the paying fans.

Incidentally, the three subsequent legs of Messi’s visit in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi went off with a hitch and it’s believed they left Indian shores richer to the tune of Rs 100 crore.