Coldplay tickets: Shiv Sena(UBT) writes to CM Eknath Shinde to probe ‘nexus in black marketing’

Coldplay concert: Following disappointed fans who could not get a ticket to witness the British band perform live, political parties have now joined the bandwagon. As controversies about reselling tickets continued to evolve, Shiv Sena (UBT faction) spokesperson Anand Dubey, on Saturday, wrote a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to probe into an alleged “nexus engaged in the black-marketing of tickets.”

The tickets for Coldplay concert went live on September 22, on BookMyShow. Within a flash of a few minutes, the tickets were all sold out. Later on, tickets worth ₹3,500 were resold at prices ranging as high as ₹3 lakh.

‘Nexus in black marketing’

In his letter, Dubey stated that despite the official ticketing partner BookMyShow's declaration of the show being sold out, there were other "unofficial channels" through which the tickets were being made available at “exorbitant prices.”

“It appears that there may be a nexus engaged in the black-marketing of tickets, exploiting the enthusiasm of young fans who are willing to spend large amounts of their parents' hard-earned money to attend this concert. This not only violates the principles of fairness but may also involve illegal activities such as money laundering, cheating, and fraud,” Dubey said in his letter, reported ANI.

The copy of the letter was also sent to Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Mumbai Police Commissioner and Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner in demand for a probe into the matter.

Additionally, Dubey said that despite the tickets being sold out, in reality they were being sold at prices 5 to 10 times higher than the original price. He alleged, that this creates suspicion of BookMyShow doing "black marketing" and demanded a probe into the matter.

“The reality is that there are other websites where tickets are still being sold through black marketing at 5 to 10 times more expensive prices. So we are getting suspicious about whether BookMyShow has done any black marketing... ” said Dubey, while calling for “thorough and intensive investigation” of how BookMyShow sells its tickets, reported ANI.

Black marketing Coldplay tickets

Earlier on Friday, Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) summoned Ashish Hemrajani, CEO of Big Tree Entertainment, the parent company of BookMyShow, in connection with an investigation into the alleged black market sales of Coldplay concert tickets.

The summons comes after a Mumbai based lawyer Amit Vyas filed a complaint, accusing the ticketing platform of facilitating the black marketing of tickets for the British band's concert at DY Patil stadium in Mumbai.

Following the recent course of developments, many Coldplay fans from India are now looking to catch the British band perform live at Abu Dhabi, on January 10-11, 2025.