A man was caught allegedly selling tickets for the World Cup match to be played between India and South Africa at the Eden Gardens on Sunday at five times the original price.
Officers of the detective department came to know about the alleged black marketing while another match — between Pakistan and Bangladesh — was in progress at the stadium on Tuesday.
“We have arrested one person from an office at Gillender House on NS Road, where he was selling a ticket of Rs 2,200 for Rs 11,000,” said joint commissioner, crime, Kolkata police, Shankha Shubhra Chakrabarty.
He said the arrest followed “specific information from a reliable source”. Based on that, he said, an office at Gillender House at 8 Netaji Subhas Road was raided.
The police identified the accused as Ankit Agarwal, 32, a resident of Tollygunge Circular Road. He has been booked under IPC sections on cheating.
On searching the office, the police said they seized 20 such tickets priced at Rs 2,200. The accused had allegedly planned to sell them for Rs 11,000.
“Ankit Agarwal is a trader of food products. It appears that he had procured the tickets from somewhere and was trying to make profit by selling them at a premium. We have yet to ascertain from where he got the tickets,” said an officer in the detective department at Lalbazar.
The police said the seized tickets were of Blocks C and F.
When Pakistan thumped Bangladesh on Tuesday, the Eden had more empty seats than spectators.
But Sunday’s is a high-voltage match featuring the top two sides of the tournament. Team India will take on the only side that has looked capable of putting up a fight against it from the performances so far.
A senior Kolkata police officer said plainclothes policemen have been deployed in the Maidan area to keep an eye on possible black-marketing of tickets for the ICC World
Cup.
Incidents of black marketing of match tickets are not new in Kolkata. The police said they are carrying out raids at suspected locations.