SUMMARY
- BookMyShow CEO Ashish Hemrajani summoned by EOW for alleged Coldplay concert ticket black marketing.
- The complaint claims the firm enabled illegal ticket resale; prices reached up to ₹3 lakh.
- The business denies involvement, warns of fake tickets, and supports the ongoing police investigation.
The CEO of the online ticketing platform, BookMyShow, Ashish Hemrajani, has been summoned by the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) with charges of selling Coldplay concert tickets on the black market.
He has been asked to appear before the investigating officers on Saturday, September 28, 2024, along with the head of the company’s technical department, as reported by ANI.
The inquiry is a result of a complaint that advocate Amit Vyas filed, alleging that
the online ticketing platform enabled unapproved ticket sales for Coldplay’s concert. Coldplay is scheduled to play at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on January 19, 20, and 21, 2025, as part of its “Music of the Spheres” World Tour. On September 22, tickets for the event went on sale via the ticketing platform, with prices ranging from ₹2,500 to ₹35,000.
However, the tickets quickly sold out, causing a great deal of technical difficulties and annoyance among fans. Subsequently, tickets started to surface on resale sites for outrageous amounts, some of which are reportedly as much as Rs 3 lakh.
In his complaint, Amit Vyas called attention to these exorbitant resale rates and asked for the business to be charged with a formal offense for allegedly permitting ticket scalping. He also mentioned that tickets were being resold for up to Rs 3 lakh on third-party platforms like Gigsberg and Viagogo, which is significantly more than their initial face value. Since buying and reselling tickets in bulk is against Indian law, Amit Vyas is attempting to charge the corporation with fraud.
BookMyShow responded by releasing a statement in which they denied any affiliation with third-party resellers and made it clear that they do not collaborate with websites like Gigsberg or Viagogo. They warned that tickets obtained from unapproved sources may be fake and advised the public to proceed with caution when making purchases. The business further underlined that it has filed its police report against unlawful scalping actions and is fully assisting with the current inquiry.
Amit Vyas’s statement has already been recorded by the EOW, who has also named multiple brokers who are allegedly involved in the sale of tickets on the black market. It is anticipated that more people may be called in for questioning as the investigation continues, as officials attempt to rein in illicit ticket-scalping operations in advance of the Coldplay performance.
