Divisional court

Sports Minister Aroop Biswas: The individuals arrested in connection with the vandalism at the Yuva Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake during the Lionel Messi event on Monday claimed before a court that they were themselves victims of the incident. Their lawyers raised this contention during the hearing and sought bail for the accused on any conditions. However, the court rejected their bail applications.

As of Monday afternoon, five persons have been arrested in connection with the violence and vandalism at the stadium. Those arrested have been identified as Basudev Das, Sanjay Das, Abhijit Das, Gaurav Basu and Shubhrapratim Dey. All five were produced before the Bidhannagar Sub-Divisional Court.

The police did not seek custodial interrogation of the accused and instead prayed for judicial custody. It was during this stage of the proceedings that the lawyers appearing for the accused raised several questions related to the incident and pressed for bail. They argued that since the police were not seeking custody, the accused should be released on bail.