A complaint has been submitted to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against ticketing platform BookMyShow and concert organiser Live Nation, alleging unethical practices hindered genuine Coldplay fans from buying concert tickets. Coldplay announced its Coldplay's Music Of The Spheres World Tour 2025 at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium on January 18 and 19, and the tickets were sold out within minutes. Due to the high demand, a third show was added on January 20, but that also sold out quickly.
The complaint was submitted by Amit Vyas, founder partner of a law firm Vertices Partners, on Friday, September 27, Bar and Bench reported. Hinting at a large-scale ticketing scam in connection with the concert, he alleged that key decision-makers at BookMyShow and Live Nation were involved in orchestrating the scam.
“These platforms manipulated access by logging out legitimate users or blocking them from the site, enabling ticket bots and black-market operators to take control of the sales, which began at 12 PM on September 22. Tickets were sold out on BookMyShow but appeared on third-party resale sites like Viagogo. The prices were inflated 30 to 50 times their original value,” the complaint read.
According to the complaint, the deployment of bots and manipulation of digital queues violated consumer rights laws and various provisions of the Indian criminal law, depriving genuine fans of fair access to the concert. The complaint sought the registration of an First Information Report (FIR) invoking sections of cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita. The petitioner reportedly plans to also file a public interest litigation (PIL) petition before the Bombay High Court to establish regulatory guidelines for major events to prevent such incidents in future.
BookMyShow had filed a police complaint stating that they are not associated with any ticket selling or reselling platforms such as Viagogo. “Scalping is strictly condemned and punishable by law in India. We have filed a complaint with the police authorities and will provide complete support to them in the investigation,” a statement read, asking consumers not to fall for the fake ticket scam.