Delhi Police bust gangs selling fake IPL tickets, 9 held

Police arrested two men and detained three minors for selling fake IPL tickets, and three men for selling original tickets at a higher price outside a stadium in Delhi. Police seized 104 tickets, including 80 fake ones, and a colour printer. One gang allegedly hopped from city to city printing fake tickets, while the other sold original tickets.

Police on Tuesday arrested two men and detained three minors for allegedly printing and selling fake IPL tickets, and three men for selling original tickets for a much higher price for the Delhi Capitals vs Mumbai Indians match outside Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium, officers said, adding personnel busted both gangs by pretending to be spectators and painting their faces in team colours.

The gangs were operating outside the Arun Jaitley stadium during the IPL match between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. (Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times)

Police also seized 104 tickets which were either fake or being sold on the black market.

The police personnel took up positions outside the stadium and soon spotted some men allegedly selling tickets in black and nabbed three suspects, Tarun Kumar, Md Nasim and Piyush. “We recovered 24 tickets from them. They were selling tickets worth ₹1,250 for ₹4,000 to people desperate to enter the stadium,” said deputy commissioner of police (central) Sanjay Kumar Sain.

They were all booked under sections pertaining to the Delhi Prevention of Touting and Malpractices Against Tourism Ordinance.

Police also found another man, Rohit Chauhan, allegedly selling tickets illegally. Chauhan’s tickets did not stand the scrutiny of online checking, said police. “On minute examination, these tickets were found forged,” the DCP said, adding that four more suspects, including Chauhan’s three minor associates – all from Mumbai – were nabbed and a colour printer and other materials used for printing fake tickets recovered from them.

The officer said that this gang would hop from one city to another during the IPL season and print fake tickets to sell them to desperate cricket fans. These fake tickets appeared similar to the original tickets, said police, adding that 80 such tickets were seized from them.

“Since original tickets have barcodes printed on them, we are probing how the fraudsters managed to help their ticket buyers gain access to the stadium,” said another police officer, asking not be named.

The second gang has been booked for forgery, said the police.