Black marketing of Hockey World Cup tickets ahead of India match, engineering student among 5 held

The craze for the ongoing FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup in Odisha and the unavailability of match tickets have created an opportunity for some people to sell tickets in the black market.

In a crackdown, Saheed Nagar police in Bhubaneswar has busted a racket involving the sale of tickets for the match between India and Wales to be played at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on January 19.     

As per sources, the accused persons were using social media to target prospective buyers and sell the tickets of the hockey match at an exorbitant price. The accused persons hatched the deals through chatting on messaging apps.  

The accused persons sold tickets of Rs 100 for Rs 1000, Rs 200 tickets for Rs 2000 and Rs 500 tickets for Rs 4,000.

The police have caught them red-handed. They were also selling tickets for matches scheduled on January 19, January 24 and January 29. 

Of the five accused, one is a girl student of civil engineering of a university in Bhubaneswar while four others are businessmen. 

Notably, the 15th edition of the Men's FIH Hockey World Cup which began on January 13 will continue till January 29. The matches of the mega event is being played at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar and newly-built Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium in Rourkela. 

(Reported by Alok Mohanty, OTV)