The frenzy for Coldplay’s upcoming concerts in Mumbai had over 1.3 crore people logged on to BookMyShow (Image:X/Coldplay)
Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has summoned BookMyShow’s CEO, Ashish Hemrajani, and its technical head for questioning on Saturday, after allegations of black market sales of Coldplay concert tickets. It was based on the complaint by Advocate Amit Vyas accusing BookMyShow of facilitating ticket black marketing for the Coldplay concert scheduled for January 18 and 19, 2025.
The ticket was originally priced at Rs 2,500 but it was resold by third parties and influencers for up to Rs 3 lakh. Vyas claims that BookMyShow deceived the public and Coldplay fans seeking an FIR for fraud practices. The EOW has recorded Vyas’ statement and identified several brokers involved in ticket scalping through various platforms including social media and the investigations are underway with more individuals expected to be summoned on account of the case. It was said that the BookMyShow’s representatives would provide statements to the investigating officer on Saturday about the ticket scandal.
Earlier this week, Samajwadi Party leader and Member of Parliament Akhilesh Yadav expressed concern over the massive demand for Coldplay concert tickets in India which has led to illegal sales at inflated prices. Yadav stated that the overwhelming rush for bookings and the subsequent black market for tickets has become a significant problem which raises serious concerns.
Also, read| Coldplay Concert Tickets Being Sold For Lakhs On The Black Market – Akhilesh Yadav Reacts
The frenzy for Coldplay’s upcoming concerts at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai had over 1.3 crore people logged on to BookMyShow to try to secure one of the 1.5 lakh available tickets for the band’s shows in January 2024. Tickets sold out within 30 minutes, leaving many fans frustrated. The fans noticed that the tickets quickly appeared on resale platforms at highly inflated prices with some being sold for up to Rs 10 lakh which is far beyond their original price of Rs 2,000 to Rs 35,000.
@coldplay guess what, your incompetent ticketing partners @bookmyshow helped web scalpers and now the tickets are going for 10x/20x/30x on unofficial sites, when real losers are fans who couldn’t get tix fairly -_-
Second time, since BMS admins got the first tweet reported. pic.twitter.com/zSYAlQ7BUe
— Rithwik (@logarithmtable) September 22, 2024
@coldplay your ticking partner is not trustworthy
They have sold tickets to the black market already
What’s the point of us waiting in queue @bookmyshow @bookmyshow_sup
Disappointed
I hope my fav artist never considers u guys pic.twitter.com/oTWmS3pQKQ— Sañ⁷💜 (@SanyJBTSgirl) September 22, 2024
Additionally, BookMyShow’s website and app crashed last Sunday and the ticket sale was supposed to go live at noon but was delayed due to technical issues. The website and app were inaccessible for about 18 minutes which frustrated many users and some users faced issues booking tickets on the app as well. It was said that those who tried to book tickets have been added to the queue and confronted technical issues while completing the process.
Also, read| BookMyShow App Crashes Amid Coldplay Concert Ticket Rush
