Messi India Tour | Calcutta High Court To Hear PILs Seeking CBI, ED, SFIO Probe Into Chaos At Salt Lake Stadium

The Calcutta High Court will hear multiple public interest litigations (PILs) seeking an investigation by central agencies — including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) — into the massive chaos and vandalism that erupted at Salt Lake Stadium during an event featuring Argentine football legend Lionel Messi.

Notably, the organiser of the GOAT India Tour, under which this visit fell, was arrested by the Kolkata Police and remanded to 14 days police custody.

A Division Bench of the High Court, led by Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Pal, today allowed the filing of three separate PILs related to the episode and will take them up for hearing next week.

The petitions were filed by Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari and advocates, including Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay and Mainak Ghoshal. They challenge the handling of the event and the subsequent state-level inquiry committee, and urge the High Court to order independent investigations by central agencies.

The PILs highlight concerns over gross mismanagement and crowd unrest at the stadium, financial irregularities connected to the event, and the effectiveness and impartiality of the state government's own inquiry panel constituted by the Chief Minister in the aftermath of the events.

Chaos erupted on December 13, 2025, during the Kolkata leg of Messi's three-day GOAT India Tour, when thousands of ticket-holding fans became frustrated at not being able to see the football superstar properly inside the venue due to mismanagement, after paying between ₹5,000 and ₹15,000 per ticket.