Cops arrest three for selling passes in black

According to Crime Branch officials,the racket was busted after the agency received an anonymous letter alleging a large-scale black marketing racket being conducted by some people of three sports clubs. “It was revealed that they are selling cricket match tickets upto Rs 2 lakh per ticket and the total volume of the black marketing business is not less than Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore. The main customers who are buying such tickets in black-market are from areas like Pali Hill,Juhu in Mumbai,” the letter said.

The Crime Branch’s property cell then initiated investigation into the alleged racket and contacted the suspect,posing as a potential customer,who expressed interest in buying VIP passes for the match scheduledd for Thursday. After negotiations,the person who was posing as the customer agreed to buy six VIP passes for Rs 25,000 each. A meeting was planned at the MCA gate of the Wankhede Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

“We laid a trap at the spot and detained the trio. A search of their belongings revealed six VIP passes and 15 non-VIP passes for Sachin’s 200th match Thursday. These are complimentary passes issued by the MCA to the Islam Gymkhana and are not supposed to be sold,” said a senior Crime Branch officer.

Following the arrests,the three sports clubs have now come under the Crime Branch’s scanner. “If complimentary passes issued to the Islam Gymkhana were being sold,we suspect that passes issued to the Bombay Gymkhana and the Garware Club were also similarly being sold on the black market,and we are investigating the matter. We have also identified two members of the Islam Gymkhana who we suspect to have given the tickets to the arrested trio to be sold. They will also be questioned,” the officer added.

Another officer said while it was too early to get an idea for how long the racket had been going on,preliminary questioning indicated that they had sold complimentary passes for the recent IPL Season 6 and three matches of the 2011 World Cup held at the Wankhede stadium.

The arrested have been charged for cheating and criminal breach of trust under the IPC and will be produced in court Thursday,officers said. “We are probing the allegations of the letter,” said a Crime Branch official.

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com