Indian police investigate ticket resale for Coldplay gig in Mumbai | India

Indian police have launched an investigation after advertisers bought tickets to Coldplay's upcoming shows in Mumbai and put them back on sale for more than £750 apiece.

India is often missed on world tours by well-known Western artists and the news that Coldplay would be coming to India for the first time in January to perform two nights of their world tour in Mumbai was greeted with great enthusiasm by music fans.

However, when more than 700,000 people logged into BookMyShow to buy tickets, the website quickly crashed. Many were disappointed when tickets sold out within minutes, and many were outraged when the tickets reappeared on unauthorized third-party websites, selling for up to 85,000 rupees (£760, US$1,015).

According to local media reports, police questioned BookMyShow's managing director on Monday after receiving a complaint from Amit Vyas, a Mumbai-based lawyer, who alleged that the seller was working with “bootleggers” to make extra revenue from ticket sales.

“I checked with almost 100 people who I know are regulars at concerts, none of them had got a ticket,” Vyas said, according to the Indian Express newspaper. “That made me suspicious. I then decided to contact the police as I knew something was wrong.”

BookMyShow issued a statement last week after the public backlash began, saying it had “no connection” to the unauthorized ticket sales. “Scalping and black marketing of tickets are strictly condemned and punishable in India and BookMyShow vehemently opposes this practice,” the company said.

While reselling tickets through unauthorized or hidden market channels is illegal in India, the practice is carried out largely uncontrolled.

The problem of ticket scalping and unauthorized resale at inflated prices has become a major problem for the music industry worldwide. Fans in the UK were recently outraged when tickets for the upcoming Oasis reunion sold out in minutes and then reappeared on secondary websites for thousands of pounds, sparking an investigation by a regulator.

Ticket website Ticketmaster has also faced criticism and political scrutiny over alleged mistreatment and unfair practices surrounding the sale of tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras tour.

AFP contributed to this report