The Messi Event Ghost: Bengal Minister Arup Biswas Faces Police Again in Decade-Old Financial Irregularities Case

Well, it seems the ghost of a decade-old event featuring none other than football superstar Lionel Messi has come back to haunt. Bengal Minister and Trinamool Congress MLA, Arup Biswas, found himself back at the Bidhannagar Commissionerate police station on Thursday, December 28th, for a second round of questioning. The focus? Allegations of financial irregularities surrounding that much-hyped 2012 event where Messi graced Kolkata.

This isn't his first visit, mind you. Biswas was initially summoned and questioned just a few days prior, on December 20th. This second appearance, coming so swiftly, suggests the authorities are really digging deep into the intricacies of this case.

The whole saga, interestingly enough, began way back in 2013. That's when two individuals, Uday Shankar Saha and Shiva Prasad Mukhopadhyay, lodged a formal complaint alleging financial fraud tied to the Messi event. Their complaint specifically named Biswas, pointing to him as one of the event's organizers.

What really seems to have reignited this seemingly cold case, bringing it back into the public eye after so many years, was the arrest of event organizer Sujay Chanda. He was nabbed in September of this year on separate charges of alleged financial malpractices. His name, it appears, opened up a whole new line of inquiry for the police, prompting them to dust off and reopen the decade-old Messi event file.

Biswas, for his part, has been quite consistent in his defence during these interrogations. He has vehemently denied any involvement whatsoever in the financial aspects of the 2012 event. He maintains that his role was purely operational – limited, as he describes it, to helping organize the players for what was, after all, a charity football match.

He even offered some context, mentioning that high-profile figures, including then-Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and then-Sports Minister Madan Mitra, were present at the event. Biswas stressed that back then, he was merely 'a normal MLA' and is now a minister, subtly implying his current position hasn't changed his fundamental stance or involvement. According to him, he's handed over 'all information' and is fully cooperating with the ongoing probe, ready to clear his name, it seems.

Just to jog your memory, the event itself was quite a spectacle: an exhibition match at Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium featuring local giants Mohun Bagan against a squad of Argentine players, all led, of course, by the legendary Lionel Messi. It was put together by a group known as Celebrity Management Group (CMG). A grand affair, no doubt, but one that continues to generate headlines all these years later.