World Cup ticket black marketing: Kolkata Police seek info from BCCI chief

Kolkata: The Kolkata Police, who are investigating the Cricket World Cup 2023 match ticket black marketing case in the city, have sent a notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President, Roger Binny, seeking information on the process followed in online marketing of tickets.

City police sources said that the decision to seek information from the BCCI president was taken after the investigating officers of city police questioned the officials of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the online ticket marketing agency. It is learnt the replies to the queries by the investigating officials have been sought from the BCCI president by November 7.

In the notice it has also been said that any authorised representative of BCCI, who might be even the BCCI president, should be present at the Maidan Police station with the relevant documents on this count by November 7.

It is learnt that during the course of interrogation on Saturday, the CAB officials have denied any kind of responsibility in the matter, since the association is in no way involved with the marketing of tickets which is being done through an online agency.

Till date, the police have arrested 22 people in connection with the matter, and seized a total of 127 tickets -- all for Sunday's match.

The matter of ticket black marketing first surfaced after the police on November 1 evening arrested an individual red-handed while trying to sell tickets for the India-South Africa match scheduled on November 5.

Later, an individual filed a complaint with the Kolkata Police, accusing the BCCI, CAB and the BookMyShow of promoting black marketing of tickets for the ODI World Cup 2023.