Kolkata police seeks information from BCCI on World Cup match ticket sale
According to the police, they have seized 127 tickets sold in black till Saturday and arrested several people in connection from different parts of Kolkata
The Kolkata Police on Saturday evening sent a notice to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Roger Binny seeking information on the sale of tickets for Sunday’s World Cup match between India and South Africa at Eden Gardens even as the number of arrests made in connection with black marketing of tickets went up to 21, city police officials said.
According to the police, they have seized 127 tickets sold in black till Saturday and arrested several people in connection from different parts of Kolkata.
“The BCCI has been asked to provide documents relating to the sale of tickets to the Maidan police station where life members of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) lodged a formal complaint earlier this week alleging black marketing of complimentary tickets from their quota,” a Kolkata police officer said on condition of anonymity.
“Binny may provide the information himself by Tuesday or depute someone from BCCI to interact with Maidan police station. A similar notice was earlier sent to the CAB president Snehashis Ganguly, brother of former India captain and BCCI’s ex-president Sourav Ganguly, since the complaint has been lodged against CAB,” the officer added.
“A notice was also sent to authorities of the portal BookMyShow which is the only authorised seller of the tickets. Two executives from the portal visited the Maidan police station on Saturday,” he said.
Snehashis Ganguly met Kolkata police commissioner Vineet Goel at the police headquarters on Saturday afternoon, hours before two CAB officials went to Maidan police station and met the investigating officer of the case.
Kolkata’s Eden Gardens stadium has a seating capacity of 67,000, against which 64,218 tickets have been issued, police officials said.
“CAB has around 10,000 life, associate and annual members. We distributed 3,000 free tickets among them online on a first-come-first-serve basis. CAB has not sold any tickets. BCCI makes these decisions. CAB too, has taken its quota of tickets from BookMyShow [online ticketing service platform for cinemas, theatres, and sports]. Each ticket at CAB is being audited by Price Waterhouse Coopers,” Snehashis Ganguly told the media on Friday.
Kolkata police officials said the two CAB officials told Maidan police station that in addition to the free 3,000 tickets, around 26,000 tickets in various price ranges were given for sale to clubs affiliated with CAB across West Bengal.
The BookMyShow executives told police that they had sold around 18,000 tickets till Saturday morning.
Saurav Ganguly told reporters on Thursday that he was not surprised to see the tickets being sold in black.
“How can anyone keep track of the people who are buying tickets and reselling them? In the past, I saw World Cup tickets being sold for Rs.17 lakh each. Such is the demand. Who can stop it?” he said.