Ashish Hemrajani, CEO of BookMyShow’s parent company Big Tree Entertainment, did not attend the second summons issued by the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) regarding the alleged black market sales of Coldplay concert tickets. Instead, the company’s COO, Anil Makhija, represented the firm at the EOW office, according to ANI.
The EOW had summoned Hemrajani for the first time on September 27, but he failed to appear, leading to the issuance of a second summons on September 30.
The complaint against BookMyShow was filed by advocate Amit Vyas, who accused the company of black marketing tickets for the highly anticipated Coldplay concert scheduled from January 19 to 21, 2025. Vyas alleged that genuine users were logged out or blocked, allowing third parties to sell tickets at exorbitant prices. Tickets originally priced at ₹2,500 were reportedly resold by influencers and others for around ₹3 lakh, as reported by Bar and Bench.
The EOW has recorded Vyas’s complaint and identified several parties implicated in the matter. He has requested the registration of an FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including organized crime, cheating, criminal conspiracy, and criminal breach of trust.
On September 27, Anand Dubey, spokesperson for the Shiv Sena (UBT faction), wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde urging an investigation into the ticket black-marketing.
BookMyShow began selling tickets for the Coldplay concert on September 22, with all tickets selling out within minutes. Following the sellout, the company warned users about unauthorized platforms attempting to sell fake tickets, advising them to be vigilant against scams related to Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India.
