Mumbai: Coldplay Concert in India Faces Uncertainty Amid Ticketing Scam Allegations Against BookMyShow CEO

Mumbai, 1st October 2024: Amid reports of Ashish Hemrajani, CEO of Big Tree Entertainment, the parent company of BookMyShow, skipping the second summons from the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) regarding allegations of black market ticket sales for the Coldplay concert, social media is abuzz with speculation about the concert’s potential cancellation.

The EOW had summoned Hemrajani to appear on Monday, but instead of attending, he sent the company’s COO, Anil Makhija. Hemrajani also skipped the first summons issued on September 27, leading to a second summons on September 30, which he again did not attend.

On September 27, Anand Dubey, spokesperson for the Shiv Sena (UBT faction), sent a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, urging an investigation into the alleged black-marketing of Coldplay concert tickets.

With recent developments, disappointed Coldplay fans took to social media to express their concerns about the concert being cancelled.

One user posted, “Coldplay might get cancelled (SIC).”

Another user wrote, “Sources suggest that #coldplayconcert could be cancelled over the alleged #BookMyShow scam! It’s such a SHAME that nothing can be transparent in India. There is corruption in every nook and corner”

A third user appealed to Coldplay, saying, “@coldplay should cancel their India concert as fraud and scam star ticketing partners are involved. They should keep their reputation high and must distance themselves from criminals @ChrisOfColdplay.”

A fourth user asked, “Coldplay India tour cancel kya????”

Another user expressed a different perspective: “ppl need to understand that cancelling Coldplay concert will not lead to anything instead the chances of Coldplay or any other foreign artists coming to India ever again would just decrease as I don’t think any artists would willingly want to deal with such drama.”

Before this, advocate Amit Vyas filed a complaint against BookMyShow, accusing it of black market ticket sales for the highly anticipated Coldplay concert, which is scheduled from January 19 to 21, 2025. In his complaint, reported by Bar and Bench, Vyas claimed that BookMyShow logged out or blocked genuine users to facilitate third parties selling tickets at inflated prices. He alleged that while tickets were originally priced at ₹2,500, they were resold by influencers and third parties for up to ₹3 lakh.

BookMyShow began selling tickets for the Coldplay concert on September 22, which sold out within minutes. Subsequently, tickets worth ₹3,500 were resold for around ₹3 lakh. Later, BookMyShow issued a warning to users against purchasing tickets from unauthorized platforms.

In a post on X, BookMyShow said, “Protect Yourself from Ticket Scams! Don’t fall prey to unauthorized platforms selling fake tickets for Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India!”