The sleuths of Commissioner’s Task Force, North Zone team, along with Gopalapuram Police, on Friday arrested two persons and seized 100 IPL tickets meant for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) match and selling them at exorbitant prices in the market on Thursday.
The accused are Chittoor Ramana (27) of Bengaluru and Nyalakanti Samuel Susheel (29) of Hyderabad.
Chittoor Ramana, is a software employee residing in Bengaluru, while Nyalakanti Samuel Susheel works as a digital marketer residing in Hyderabad. Both of them are cricket enthusiasts who initially connected through a WhatsApp group. Their conversations mainly revolved around cricket matches, leading to a close bond between them.
Previously, at the time of One Day International (ODI) World cup matches, Chittoor Ramana was caught by Chennai Police for selling cricket match tickets in black market.
Due to the huge demand of IPL tickets, both hatched a plan to procure tickets in illegal manner and sell them in the black market for high profits. There are several cricket-related Whatsapp groups. There are about 1,000 members in each group. Ramana devised a plan to procure tickets through the common groups and pass them on to his accomplice, Samuel Susheel, via different mail IDs. Susheel would then redeem the QR codes at redemption centers in Hyderabad. Subsequently, they would sell the IPL tickets in the black market to their regular customers and advertise them on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
