Calcutta police commissioner Vineet Goyal said on Thursday that police had received responses from the Cricket Association of Bengal and the portal bookmyshow.com regarding the sale of tickets for the India-South Africa match at Eden Gardens on Sunday but the police had sought more details about the ticket sales process.
“We have received responses.... But we need to know from them the exact nature of ticket booking. Once we get a clear idea from the CAB and bookmyshow, we will ask BCCI officials to come,” the Calcutta police commissioner said on Thursday evening.
He added: “We are keeping an eye on it (blackmarketing). Seven persons have been arrested. Fifty-five tickets have been seized. We are also in the process of finding
who these tickets had been sold to.
“We have specifically asked the officials of the CAB and the Bookmyshow to appear before the investigating officer.
Acting on a complaint by a cricket enthusiast of alleged mishandling of tickets for the India-South Africa match at the Eden, the city police had issued notices to the CAB and the ticketing portal bookmyshow.com asking them to send representatives to Maidan police station on Thursday.
Although none of the representatives turned up for questioning, the top cop said that police had received their responses to the notices.
Former BCCI and CAB president Sourav Ganguly, also the brother of present CAB president Snehasish Ganguly, told reporters on Thursday that only “police could have control”.
“Nobody has control over it (tickets). Only the police can control it. Once the tickets are out of the BCCI office or the Eden Gardens, there is no control over the tickets or the people who purchase them from here,” Ganguly said.
He added that although everyone wants a ticket, not everyone gets it.
On Thursday, several Calcuttans who had failed to get an online ticket queued outside the Mohammedan Sporting Club ground where tickets are sometimes sold offline a few days before a match.
On Thursday however, people saw a notice hung there that read: “Only online ticket redemption counter. No offline sale for India Vs South Africa match.”
