BookMyShow executive questioned over alleged Coldplay concert ticket scam
The EOW of the Mumbai Police on Monday interrogated Anil Makhija, Chief Operating Officer of Big Tree Entertainment, for approximately seven hours
Mumbai: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police on Monday interrogated Anil Makhija, Chief Operating Officer of Big Tree Entertainment, for approximately seven hours regarding an alleged scam involving the sale of tickets for Coldplay concerts scheduled for January 2025. Big Tree Entertainment is the parent company of BookMyShow, a popular platform for purchasing tickets to live events.
A police officer from the EOW stated, "We questioned Anil Makhija, COO of Big Tree Entertainment, for seven hours. We had summoned the CEO, Ashish Hemrajani, however he sent Makhija. We questioned him and are trying to understand the entire matter. He has given answers to our questions; we will analyse them and then decide the further course of action."
The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed by lawyer Amit Vyas, who alleged that BookMyShow, the official ticketing platform for the concert, had conspired with various black-market operators to hoard tickets. These tickets were subsequently made available at highly inflated rates on their websites.
Thousands of fans of the British rock band were left disappointed when tickets for its three January concerts in Navi Mumbai sold out within minutes earlier this week. The overwhelming demand caused the BookMyShow website and app to crash shortly before the tickets went live at noon on 22 September. Subsequently, several fans took to social media, reporting that tickets for the concert were being sold for lakhs of rupees on unofficial platforms.
Vyas's complaint to the EOW alleged that BookMyShow had conspired with ticket reselling platforms such as Viagogo to black-market the concert tickets, thereby cheating and defrauding him and other Coldplay fans.
The complaint stated, "The sale of the concert tickets was controlled by BookMyShow in such a manner that the genuine customers... were intentionally logged out of the platform seconds before 12 noon [on 22 September], the time when the tickets went live, or were not allowed to access the platform to buy tickets for the concert."
It further added, "However, simultaneously, the tickets were made available to Viagogo in bulk, which started black-marketing these tickets at very high prices. A ticket which was sold at ₹2,500 [on BookMyShow] was sold at ₹96,300 [on reselling platforms], which went up to ₹2,50,000."
In response to these allegations, a BookMyShow spokesperson earlier said, "It came to our notice that unauthorised platforms listed (and are continuing to list) tickets for Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India, both before and after the official sale. BookMyShow has no association with any such unauthorised ticket selling/reselling platforms including but not limited to Viagogo and Gigsberg or third-party individuals for the purpose of reselling Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India."
The spokesperson further emphasised, "Scalping and black marketing of tickets is strictly condemned and punishable by law in India and BookMyShow vehemently opposes this practice. We have not only filed a complaint with the police authorities but are also proactively working with them to provide complete support in the investigation of this matter in any manner that may be required."
The company also cautioned consumers, stating, "To our consumers, we would like to reiterate that any tickets bought from unauthorised sources will be at their own risk and may likely be invalid or fake tickets."