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Wankhede scam: Cops on the hunt for kingpin of black-marketing scam

Updated on: 15 November,2013 11:43 AM IST  | 
Vinay Dalvi |

The Property Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch is on the lookout for a member of the Islam Gymkhana who they believe to be the man behind the black-marketing of tickets and passes for the India-West Indies Test match

Wankhede scam: Cops on the hunt for kingpin of black-marketing scam

The Property Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch is on the lookout for a member of the Islam Gymkhana who they believe to be the man behind the black-marketing of tickets and passes for the India-West Indies Test match.



Turning a blind eye: There was heavy police presence outside the stadium to guard the VVIPs who were in attendance, but almost no cops to put a stop to the rampant black-marketing of tickets around them. Pic/Atul Kamble


The police said that the member is a well-known individual and trustee of a charitable organisation. The Crime Branch had previously arrested three men involved with different clubs in the city for black-marketing passes and tickets to Tendulkar’s final Test match.


One of arrested accused, identified as Ajay Jadhav, is an employee of Islam Gymkhana. The other two accused are Janak Gandhi, a member of Garware Club in Churchgate, and Bhayander resident Girish Premna, who works at Bombay Gymkhanau00a0“The person whom we are searching for used to give tickets acquired by Islam Gymkhana from the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to Jadhav, who in turn would share them with Premna.

Premna would give them to Gandhi. The two used to sell the tickets at exorbitant rates. It’s a huge and long-running racket; they weren’t doing this for the first time,” said an officer from the Crime Branch.

Jadhav would sell the tickets to Premna for Rs 10,000, after which Premna and Gandhi would sell them for Rs 25,000. The police have seized tickets for the Sachin Tendulkar Pavilion, V Merchant Pavilion and Garware Pavilion.

Tickets for the V Merchant and Sachin Tendulkar pavilions were being sold for Rs 8,000, and those for Garware Pavilion were going for Rs 25,000.u00a0

Cops summon secretariesu00a0of three sporting clubsu00a0
The Crime Branch has sent summons to the secretaries of Garware Club, Bombay Gymkhana, and Islam Gymkhana. “We want to know how many tickets and complimentary passes they had received, to find out if the six passes and 15 tickets that we have seized belonged to their club, and to understand which members get money from the black-marketing,” said a senior Crime Branch official.
The police will verify with the MCA as to how many passes and tickets they had given to each of the clubs. They have registered a case of cheating in Marine Drive police station and have kept the accused in police custody till November 16.u00a0

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