BookMyShow CEO skips first summons over black market sale of Coldplay concert tickets; second notice issued

BookMyShow CEO and co-founder Ashish Hemrajani, along with the company's technical head, have been issued fresh summons over alleged black marketing of Coldplay concert tickets.

The Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW), which had initially called them in for questioning on Saturday, has now asked them to appear before an investigating officer today.

"Mumbai Police's EOW sent a summons to CEO Ashish Hemrajani of Big Tree Entertainment Private Limited, the parent company of BookMyShow, and the company's technical head, yesterday. EOW had sent them summons earlier on Sep 27 but they didn’t appear before the agency," ANI reported, citing the Mumbai Police.

"They have been asked to appear before the investigating officer today and record their statements," the police said.

The summons were issued following a complaint by Mumbai-based Advocate Amit Vyas, who accused BookMyShow of enabling the black market sale of Coldplay concert tickets. 

He also accused the platform of restricting legitimate users by either logging them out or blocking their access entirely, creating an opportunity for ticket bots and black-market sellers to dominate the sales, Bar and Bench reported.

The complaint alleges that BookMyShow misled the public and Coldplay fans, seeking to file an FIR under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including charges of organized crime, fraud, criminal conspiracy, and breach of trust.

Coldplay, returning to India after eight years, is set to perform in Mumbai on January 18, 19, and 21, 2025, as part of its 'Music of the Spheres' World Tour. Tickets for the event, which went on sale via BookMyShow on September 22, were sold out within seconds amid technical glitches.

Originally priced between Rs 2,500 and Rs 35,000, tickets soon began appearing on resale platforms like Viagogo, with prices skyrocketing to as much as Rs 3 lakh.

In response to the controversy, BookMyShow released a statement last week clarifying that it has no affiliation with resale platforms such as Viagogo or Gigsberg, nor with third-party individuals involved in ticket resales.

“With 13 million (1.3 crore) fans eager to get tickets and logged in, emotions ran high on September 22nd on BookMyShow for Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 in India. At BookMyShow, we've worked hard to ensure every fan had a fair chance to secure tickets, capping it at 4 tickets per user across all shows, providing clear, step-by-step booking guides and maintaining transparent communication through all our official channels," a representative of the company said.

The company had also claimed that it implemented a queuing system to manage the overwhelming demand for tickets.