Hyderabad: 4 held for illegal sale of tickets of India-WI T20

The match is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, October 14. The police registered a case after receiving information about the illegal sale of tickets marked “NOT FOR SALE” near SD Mall in Begum Bazar.

Hyderabad: A Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) member and his son, along with two others, were arrested by the Goshamahal police on Tuesday, October 13, for allegedly selling complimentary tickets for the India-West Indies fourth T20 International cricket match on the black market at exorbitant prices.

The match is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, October 14. The police registered a case after receiving information about the illegal sale of tickets marked “NOT FOR SALE” near SD Mall in Begum Bazar.

According to the police, a patrolling team received information about the alleged ticket racket on Monday night. The personnel intercepted Avinnashh Darak, 24, and Mohith Somani, 30, and seized 11 complimentary cricket match tickets, eight passes for a Navratri event, Rs. 5,000 in cash, three mobile phones and a two-wheeler from them.

During questioning, the two allegedly disclosed that they had obtained the complimentary tickets through Akarshit Srivastava, who had received them from his father, Satish Chandra Srivastava, an HCA member associated with the Uppal cricket stadium, police said.

Akarshit allegedly supplied the tickets to Darak, who, along with his brother-in-law Mohith, advertised them for sale through WhatsApp status updates and Instagram. Interested buyers reportedly contacted them through social media, and the tickets were sold at inflated prices.

All remanded to judicial custody

The police subsequently apprehended Akarshit and Satish Chandra Srivastava. All four were arrested the same day and remanded to judicial custody.

The police seized four mobile phones in total, including high-end Samsung, OnePlus and Apple devices, besides the tickets, passes, cash and the two-wheeler, as part of the investigation.

A case was registered under Section 112(1) (petty organised crime) and Section 318(2) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 21(gg) (unauthorised resale of tickets) of the City Police Act. The investigation is continuing.