Ahmedabad: 2 held for black-marketing IPL final tickets

Ahmedabad: The city crime branch has arrested two youths for allegedly attempting to sell tickets for the upcoming IPL final at inflated prices. The arrests were made near Sindhu Bhavan Road.The accused were identified as Man Patel (19), a third-year BA student residing in Bodakdev; and Safik Ansari (24), an event manager from Gomtipur.The IPL final is scheduled to be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera on May 31.According to police officers, the crime branch had deployed multiple teams across the city to prevent the illegal sale of match tickets.Acting on a tip-off, officers learnt that two individuals were attempting to sell IPL final tickets at a premium through word of mouth.A senior crime branch officer said the accused had purchased the tickets for Rs 3,500 each and were planning to sell them for Rs 10,000 apiece. To verify the information, the police laid a trap on Thursday, and sent a decoy customer to negotiate the deal.When the accused arrived near Sindhu Bhavan Road to hand over the tickets, they were apprehended by the crime branch team.Police recovered four IPL final tickets from the men’s possession along with two mobile phones — valued at Rs 25,000 and Rs 1 lakh.A case has been registered at the detection of crime branch police station.