New Delhi:

The Enforcement Directorate conducted raids in Delhi, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Bangalore in connection with illegal sale of tickets for Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour and Diljit Dosanjh’s Dilluminati concert.

Ticketing partners for the shows BookMyShow and Zomato Live were reported to have sold out tickets for both concerts within minutes, leading to alleged black marketing of tickets. Several complaints of fraud through fake ticket sales and resale of tickets at exorbitant prices were also received. Several FIRs have been filed in many states in this regard.

BookMyShow too has filed complaints against several suspects.

The Enforcement Directorate initiative a probe into the money laundering angle and conducted raids at more than 13 location in five cities on October 25. During the raid, incriminating materials like mobile phones, laptops and SIM cards were seized. The probe also found that fake tickets were being sold using Instagram, WhatsApp and Telegram.

The searches were aimed at investigating the illegal sales of tickets, financial networks supporting these scams, and tracing the proceeds of crime generated from such illegal activities, it said.

The Coldplay concert is slated to be held in Mumbai on January 18,19 and 21, 2025. Meanwhile, Diljit Dosanjh’s Dilluminati India tour will begin from Delhi on October 26 and 27. He will then take his tour to various cities, including Jaipur on November 2, Hyderabad on November 15, Ahmedabad on November 17 and Lucknow on November 22, among others, before concluding in Guwahati on December 29.

Mumbai:

Upcoming concerts of British band Coldplay in Mumbai and Indian singer Diljit Dosanjh in Chandigarh and other cities triggered a travel rush by fans, leading to over 300 per cent surge in flight bookings, online travel agency ixigo said in a report on Wednesday.

The Grammy award-winning band Coldplay is scheduled to perform at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium during January 18-21 as part of its ‘Music of the Spheres’ world tour.

Punjabi singing sensation Diljit Dosanjh will perform at a live concert in Chandigarh in December this year as part of his DIL-UMINATI India tour.

The country is witnessing a surge in travel bookings as fans flock to see these two live performances, said the ixigo report, adding that the platform has observed a sharp rise in flight, train, and bus bookings and searches to key concert cities.

Mumbai has experienced a staggering 350 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in flight bookings, said the report.

Chandigarh, one of the destinations for the DIL-UMINATI India tour, has seen a 300 per cent YoY surge in flight bookings, it said.

Other DIL-UMINATI concert cities like Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Indore have also recorded an average 100 per cent YoY growth in flight bookings on their respective event dates.

“We’ve observed a significant shift in Indian travellers’ preferences, with more people willing to spend on experiences like music concerts and festivals. The passion for live performances is driving fans to travel, and this surge in bookings across flights, trains, and buses shows how music tourism is becoming a major force in the country,” ixigo Group CEO Aloke Bajpai said.

The report, based on ticket bookings and searches on ixigo platform, further said that tier II cities are fuelling bus travel demand for concerts.

Bus searches from Jaipur, Nagpur, Dehradun, Varanasi, Indore, Surat, and Kanpur have surged for concert dates, it added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)