Amidst allegations of scarcity and black marketing of tickets for Sunday’s World Cup clash between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata Police has sought responses from the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and bookmyshow.com.
On Friday, the police questioned representatives of the ticket booking portal. About 10 persons have been held for allegedly selling tickets illegally and 72 tickets have been seized.
On Wednesday, a case was filed after receiving a complaint from cricket fans, accusing bookmyshow and officials of CAB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of engaging in ticket black marketing.
The Deputy Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Priyabrata Roy, said a letter has been sent to CAB and its representative is likely to appear before the police.
Sourav Ganguly’s reaction
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, younger brother of CAB president Snehasish, has come to the defence of the association.
“It happens everywhere, the demand for tickets is so high. Nobody has control over it, only the Police can stop this,” said Ganguly, who earlier headed the CAB and BCCI, said on Thursday, adding the Eden has a capacity of 67,000 and the demand is much more.
Asked why the CAB president was dragged to the controversy, Ganguly said it’s ‘unfortunate’ adding “CAB can’t sell tickets. They don’t have any box office.”
The development has also created ripples in the political circles. Cricketer and Minister of State for Sports, Manoj Tiwary, said the CAB and its president should come clean on what happened with the tickets.
Several people have complained that they have been duped on social media while trying to buy tickets. Following raids, it has come to the light that tickets priced at ₹2500 were sold at ₹11, 000 and those priced ₹900 were sold for ₹8000. Many CAB life members couldn’t procure tickets.
