Coldplay Concert row: Mumbai Police summons BookMyShow’s Ashish Hemrajani for ’black marketing’ of tickets

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police has summoned BookMyShow's parent company Big Tree Entertainment's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ashish Hemrajani and the company's technical head to appear before the investigative officer and record their statements on Saturday, September 28. The investigation is reportedly based on a complaint lodged by a Mumbai-based lawyer, accusing the ticketing platform of conspiring to black-market tickets for an upcoming concert.

Advocate Amit Vyas, the Founder Partner of Vertices Partners, has filed a complaint with the EOW of the Mumbai Police about the alleged black marketing of Coldplay concert tickets.

What happened in the Coldplay row?

Vyas alleged that the bookings platform BookMyShow used unethical practices that prevented genuine fans from buying tickets during the official sale that started on September 22, as per the complaint.

The lawyer also alleged that the platform manipulated access by logging out legitimate users or completely blocking them, which fuelled the ticket bots and black market operators to take over the sales, reported legal news portal Bar and Bench.

The tickets were sold out shortly before reappearing on the third-party resale site Viagogo at outrageous prices.

The report further said that Vyas aims to register an FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including organised crime, cheating, criminal conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust.

He also intends to file a public interest litigation (PIL) with the Bombay High Court, which aims to create regulatory guidelines for major events to help prevent similar fraudulent activities in the future, according to the report.

BookMyShow's legal complaint

BookMyShow lodged a police complaint in relation to the alleged sale of fake tickets for Coldplay's Mumbai concert on some platforms. It is not associated with any ticket selling or reselling platforms such as Viagogo and Gigsberg or third-party individuals for reselling Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India, the company said in a press release.

Coldplay's India comeback is after eight years; the concert is scheduled to be held at DY Pati Stadium, Navi Mumbai on January 18, 19 and 21, 2025.