Lionel Messi's India visit cost…: Satadru Dutta, GOAT India Tour's arrested organiser, reveals financial details

Satadru Dutta, the arrested main organiser of Lionel Messi's event, revealed during an investigation that the football icon was paid ₹89 crore for the India visit. He claimed that the total expenditure of the tour amounted to ₹100 crore.

"Lionel Messi was paid ₹89 crore for the tour, while ₹11 crore was paid as tax to the Indian government," Dutta revealed during prolonged questioning by officers of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), as per news agency PTI.

Dutta told investigators, as per PTI sources, “Of this amount, 30 percent was sourced from sponsors, while another 30 percent was generated through ticket sales.”

Meanwhile, an amount of over ₹20 crore was found in the frozen bank accounts of Dutta by the officers of the SIT, the officer was quoted as saying.

"Dutta claimed that the amount in his bank account was the money which he got from selling the tickets for the Messi event in Kolkata and Hyderabad, and also from the sponsors. We are verifying his claims," the officer said.

The financial details related to Lionel Messi's India visit were disclosed after sleuths of the SIT seized several documents following the raids at Dutta's house on Friday.

Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium chaos

Thousands of spectators had purchased high-priced tickets to attend Messi's opening leg of the 'G.O.A.T. India Tour' at the Salt Lake Stadium on December 13.

However, the programme spiralled into chaos as a large number of people crowded around Messi on the field, making him barely visible from the galleries.

This triggered anger among fans, some of whom later vandalised parts of the stadium. Infuriated fans resorted to vandalism at the Kolkata stadium, alleging poor event management and criticising VIPs and politicians for hogging the football icon's attention and time to the extent that fans did not even get a glimpse of Messi.

The situation escalated when angry fans attempted to enter the ground to vandalise the tent and the goal post. To control the situation, police personnel used mild force to disperse the angry crowd from the ground.

Less than a few hours after the chaos, Dutta -- the sole organiser of the programme — was arrested at the airport while he was leaving for the Hyderabad leg. On December 14, he was sent to 14 days of police custody.

The West Bengal government had set up the Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising senior IPS officers Piyush Pandey, Javed Shamim, Supratim Sarkar and Muralidhar to investigate the vandalism at Argentine football star Lionel Messi’s event at the Salt Lake stadium.

The SIT is also investigating security lapses, access violations, and the role of organisers and officials in the incident, the officer added.

Who is Satadru Dutta?

Satadru Dutta is a Kolkata-based sports organiser credited with bringing several global football icons to India over the years.

A commerce graduate, Dutta began his professional career in finance, working at Investmart — later known as IL&FS Securities — near Elgin Road in early 2000s.

In 2011, he founded A Satadru Dutta Initiative, a platform that combines sports promotion, celebrity management and social causes.

Over the years, he has been associated with bringing international football stars such as Ronaldinho, Cafu, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez to India.

(With inputs from agencies)