The Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (CCB) has dismantled a high-value black market network operating within the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, according to an NDTV report. Their investigation exposes a deep-rooted nexus between the corporate bulk-buying and the stadium-side scalping.
The arrest of a canteen worker has uncovered a trail of 181 siphoned tickets with a cumulative face value of Rs 17,52,600, highlighting a significant shadow economy thriving amid the IPL 2026 season.
Rs 17.5 lakh audit
The investigation zeroed in on Chandrashekhar, an employee at the Sri Lakshmi Canteen inside the stadium as per an NDTV report. Acting on credible intelligence regarding the artificial scarcity of tickets, CCB officials caught him allegedly selling inventory for the RCB vs Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) match on April 15 at massive markups.
Black Market arbitrage: Tickets were being offloaded for between Rs 15,000 and Rs 19,000, nearly triple their original price in many categories.
Inventory breach: Investigators traced a total of 181 tickets across two high-profile matches (LSG on April 15 and CSK on March 28) that were funneled out of the official system and into this private ring.
Corporate shells and bulk diversion
The probe revealed that the tickets were not bought by individual fans but were procured in bulk through the digital platform Ticketgenie using corporate credentials. This allowed the cartel to corner a significant portion of the public inventory.
Swastik Heavy Engineering and Industrial Automation Consultant Company were used to buy 100 tickets for the LSG match and 81 tickets for the CSK clash.
- CCB caught Chandrashekhar selling tickets at 3x original price for RCB vs LSG match
- Corporate credentials used to bypass 4-6 ticket per-user limit on Ticketgenie
- KSCA member Ganesh Pareekshit allegedly orchestrated supply chain and pricing markups
- Cases filed against Managing Directors of implicated corporate entities
Dharani Computers Company was utilised to secure an additional 50 tickets.
By masking the purchases under corporate entities, the syndicate successfully bypassed the standard per-user limit of 4 to 6 tickets.
The insider link- KSCA member absconding
The financial scale of the racket points to a serious breach of institutional governance. Chandrashekhar reportedly confessed that the primary supplier of the inventory was Ganesh Pareekshit, a member of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA).
Pareekshit allegedly orchestrated the supply chain and instructed the canteen worker on the pricing markups. While Pareekshit remains a fugitive, the CCB has also filed cases against the Managing Directors of the implicated private firms for facilitating the illegal diversion of match assets.
While the ACSU acknowledged the medical context and the lack of “malicious intent,” they maintained that the procedural breach could not go unpunished. A nominal fine was levied to uphold the standard of the anti-corruption code.