Earlier this week, Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Lucknow Super Giants at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, but their success has now been marred by shocking reports that a kitchen staff member at the venue sold tickets illegally for exorbitant prices, between the range of ₹15,000 and ₹19,000.
Over 180 tickets were sold by the kitchen staff member, named Chandrashekhar. The highly popular venue has a canteen by the name of Sri Lakshmi Canteen within its premises, and Chandrashekhar was employed there. He has now been arrested and is being questioned by the local police.
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It’s not a one-person job for sure. Clearly, there are more people involved.
How the police got a whiff of this, though? Apparently, there were complaints that IPL bulk tickets were being resold at exorbitant prices. When the Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) got a little aggressive about the whole thing, they found themselves questioning Chandrashekhar.
“Police found that tickets were booked via Ticketgenie in bulk under company names such as Swastik Heavy Engineering and Industrial Automation Consultant Company, along with Dharani Computers. These were later diverted to the black market,” Siasatdaily from Hyderabad reported on Friday.
Not for the first time it was done at Chinnaswamy!
By the way, Chandrashekhar and his partners in crime had not done this for the first time. In the lead-up to the 2026 IPL opener between RCB and SRH, a similar scam had been executed. “A similar pattern was flagged during the March 28 RCB vs SRH match, where 81 tickets worth ₹6.6 lakh were bought and resold at higher prices. Overall, 181 tickets worth ₹17.52 lakh were illegally sold.
“During questioning, Chandrashekhar allegedly said the tickets were supplied by KSCA member Ganesh Pareekshit, who is currently absconding. Police have launched a search and also booked managing directors of firms linked to the racket,” Siasatdaily added.
With this, things may be a little unpalatable for them off the field, but on the field of play, Rajat Patidar’s RCB have been nothing short of terrific. Of their five matches so far, they have won four. They have been pretty convincing in all those wins to boot. Their only loss came against Rajasthan Royals. At present, they are second on the points table just behind Punjab Kings, who beat Mumbai Indians on Thursday to get to the top of the table.