Delhi Police arrest 19 for black-marketing tickets during India-Afghanistan series

India beat Afghanistan 3-0 in a three-match T20 series played from September 13 to 17. But a Delhi Police operation during the series also made headlines. Police busted a gang involved in black-marketing cricket tickets, taking a total of 19 people into custody for selling tickets without authorisation around Arun Jaitley Stadium.

The special operation, which ran over three days, aimed to expose the gang behind the ticket black-marketing. A total of 13 FIRs have been registered in the case so far. Police recovered 71 tickets and 7,400 rupees in cash from the 19 accused arrested.

Acting on a tip-off, police laid a trap around the stadium. Using decoys posing as customers, police exposed the black-marketing racket. Questioning of suspects was stepped up particularly in areas near the stadium, including Delhi Gate metro station, MG Marg, BSZ Marg and JPN Park. All three matches of the series were played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

According to police, some of the accused obtained tickets cheaply and tried to sell them at inflated prices to cricket fans coming to watch the matches. Typically, once official website sales close, fans arriving for the match are willing to pay any price for a ticket. The black-marketing gang exploited this by arbitrarily raising ticket prices. On learning of this, police ran the operation over three days, September 13, 15 and 17, to expose the gang.

A day after the first match, on September 14, four FIRs were registered and five people arrested, from whom 29 tickets and 3,400 rupees were recovered. During the second match, six FIRs were registered and 10 people arrested, from whom 31 tickets and four thousand rupees were found. On September 17, three FIRs led to the seizure of 11 tickets from four accused.

Action in all these cases has been taken under Section 4(c) of the Delhi Prevention of Touting and Malpractices against Tourists Act, 2010.