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.

New Delhi:

BookMyShow chief executive officer and co-founder Ashish Hemrajani and the company’s technical head have been issued fresh summons over the alleged black marketing of tickets for the concert by British rock band Coldplay. The Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which had earlier called them for questioning on Saturday, has now asked them to appear before an investigating officer today.

According to sources, both of them are not in touch with the police.

The police have initiated a probe on the complaint of an advocate, Amit Vyas, who accused the ticketing platform of facilitating the black marketing of tickets for the Coldplay concert at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium from January 19 to 21 next year.

Mr Vyas has alleged that Coldplay’s India tour tickets, which were originally priced at Rs 2,500, are being resold by third parties and influencers for as much as Rs 3 lakh.

He alleged that BookMyShow deceived the public and Coldplay fans, and is seeking a case to be registered against the company on fraud charges.

The police have already recorded Mr Vyas’ statement and have identified several brokers involved in the alleged ticket scalping.

BookMyShow had crashed when the sale of tickets for Coldplay’s India concert began on September 22.

The British rock band, which is returning to India after an eight-year hiatus, had then added a third show to the Mumbai leg of the “Music of the Spheres World Tour 2025”.

BookMyShow On Coldplay’s India Concert

As the issue of “fake” tickets for the Coldplay concert snowballed, the BookMyShow said it has no association with any unauthorised ticket-selling or reselling platforms and has also filed a police complaint.

The ticketing platform also claimed that it took a number of steps to ensure that all genuine fans had a fair chance to secure tickets for the British pop-rock band’s concerts and warned against buying passes from unauthorised sources, saying that they may be invalid or fake.

“With 13 million (1.3 crore) fans eager to get tickets and logged in, emotions ran high on September 22 on BookMyShow for Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India. At BookMyShow, we’ve worked hard to ensure every fan had a fair chance to secure tickets, capping it at 4 tickets per user across all shows, providing clear, step-by-step booking guides and maintaining transparent communication through all our official channels,” a BookMyShow spokesperson said.

The company said the queueing system was put in place to manage the high demand and while that may have caused a brief delay, it ensured “minimal disruption” for genuine fans. It also pointed out that a third show was added, which got a great response.

“It came to our notice however that unauthorised platforms listed – and are continuing to list – tickets…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 said.

The spokesperson added that BookMyShow opposes the practice of scalping and black-marketing of tickets, which is punishable by law, and said that the company has filed a complaint with the police.

“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. 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,” the spokesperson warned.