Ahmedabad police have arrested two men for allegedly black-marketing tickets for the Indian Premier League (IPL) final, which is scheduled for May 31 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The arrests were made by the Ahmedabad Crime Branch during a patrol operation on Sindhu Bhavan Road as part of a city-wide crackdown on illegal resale of match tickets.
According to police, separate teams had been deployed across Ahmedabad to monitor ticket touting and unauthorized sales ahead of the high-profile final. Acting on specific information, officers intercepted two suspects and recovered four IPL final tickets from their possession. The accused were identified as Mann Patel, 19, a resident of Galleria Tulip on Premchandnagar Road in Bodakdev, and Safiq alias Bunny Mohammad Ayub Ansari, 24, a resident of Kamdar Maidan in Gomtipur.
A case has been registered at the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) police station under Sections 33(1)(Ex) and 131 of the Gujarat Police Act. Police also seized two mobile phones allegedly used in the operation, including a Vivo handset valued at Rs 25,000 and an Apple iPhone 17 Pro model valued at Rs 1 lakh. The total value of the seized property was estimated at Rs 1.25 lakh.
Officials said the original price of each ticket was Rs 3,500, but the accused were allegedly planning to sell them for Rs 10,000 each. Police said none of the tickets had been sold yet and that the accused had purchased them online before attempting to resell them at inflated prices.
Demand for tickets to the IPL 2026 final has remained strong since sales opened earlier this month, with general tickets reportedly selling out soon after release. The Ahmedabad police crackdown comes amid growing concern over black marketing and unauthorized resale around major sporting events hosted at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
This is not the first such action by police in the city. In March, Ahmedabad Crime Branch arrested two men near the Gujarat Vidyapith ST bus stand in Usmanpura for allegedly black-marketing tickets for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 final between India and New Zealand. In that case, police recovered eight tickets and said they were being sold at nearly three times the original price. The suspects were reportedly asking Rs 10,000 per ticket.
In another operation before the same T20 World Cup final, Ahmedabad police arrested five people in different parts of the city, including near Narendra Modi Stadium, for allegedly reselling tickets at much higher prices. Police said tickets priced at Rs 2,000 were reportedly being offered for as much as Rs 22,000, and there were also complaints about suspected counterfeit tickets being circulated online.
The latest arrests are part of an ongoing effort by Ahmedabad police to curb ticket touting and protect genuine fans from being exploited ahead of major cricket matches in the city.
