West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Orders Police To Clarify Messi Event Lapses

Kolkata: Following a preliminary report submitted by the three-member enquiry committee to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal government on Tuesday had issued a show cause notice to Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar, Bidhannagar Police Commissioner Mukesh Kumar and Bidhannagar Police’s deputy commissioner Aneesh Sarkar, has been suspended over alleged ‘negligence’ during Messi’s event on December 13.

According to a press statement released from the Chief Secretary’s office both Rajeev Kumar and Mukesh Kumar will have to give clarification within 24 hours regarding the ‘mismanagement and lapses’ which took place in the Saltlake stadium during Messi’s event.

“Communication should be given as to 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 to ensure the smooth conduct of the event at Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan (VYBK), Salt Lake,” read the statement.

The state government had also formed a SIT comprising Peeyush Pandey, IPS (Director, Security); Javed Shamim, ADG and IGP (Law and Order); Supratim Sarkar, ADG and IGP (South Bengal); and Murlidhar Sharma, Commissioner of Police, Barrackpore for an all-round probe of the incident.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accepted the resignation of state sports minister Aroop Biswas until and unless the impartial inquiry is over.

However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had kept the state’s sports department under her vigilance.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and MoS Sukanta Majumdar said, “These are all dramas. We saw a handwritten letter being circulated. Not resignation Aroop Biswas should be arrested for the mess during the event. Messi’s event was successfully held in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi and only Kolkata failed.”