Mumbai:
Three people connected with prominent sporting clubs in Mumbai were today arrested from outside the Wankhede Stadium for allegedly selling a complimentary pass for cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's farewell match for Rs 25,000 and a Rs 1,000 ticket for Rs 8,000.
"Janak Gandhi (52), member of Garware Club House and Girish Prem (34) and Ajay Jadhav (36), who are workers at Bombay Gymkhana and Islam Gymkhana respectively, were arrested for selling a complimentary pass for Rs 25,000 and a Rs 1,000 ticket for Rs 8,000," a crime branch officer told PTI.
The accused confessed to selling at least 30 passes as well as tickets in the black market, police said.
Property cell of the Mumbai police crime branch had been working on the information for the past two days that the tickets for Tendulkar's 200th and final Test match tomorrow, against the West Indies, were being sold at exorbitant prices in the black market.
Two teams, headed by inspectors Laxmikant Salunkhe and Nitin Patil, were formed, which camped outside the Wankhede, posing as cricket fans looking for tickets.
The teams stumbled upon the three accused who sold them the tickets.
Only 5,000 of the 30,000 tickets at Wankhede Stadium were sold to the public for the Test match while the rest were distributed among cricket clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), which is hosting the match.