Eyeing 98 tickets for the high-demand Diljit Dosanjh concert on December 14 last year, a 21-year-old student from Zirakpur ended up losing ₹8.22 lakh to a fake ticket scam.
Launching a probe, police have booked four men who duped Sanskar Rawat, a resident of Maya Garden City, Zirakpur, by selling him 98 fake tickets for the concert held in Sector 34, Chandigarh.
According to the FIR, on September 19, 2024, Rawat had finalised a deal with Parv Kumar of Sector 42, Chandigarh, and Vardaan Mann, 20, a resident of Vishwakarma Colony, Pinjore, to buy 98 tickets in different categories, including 17 silver, 78 gold, and three platinum tickets. For this, he made an initial payment of ₹96,000 via UPI to Mann’s bank account.
Over the next few weeks, Rawat transferred additional amounts, believing he was securing more tickets. The FIR mentions approximately ₹7 lakh were paid in multiple online transactions between October 24 and October 29, 2024, to accounts belonging to Mann, Akshit Garg, a resident of Bathinda, and Akshdeep Singh, another group member handling transactions. Additional amounts were also paid by the victim. Sanskar also paid an advance of ₹2,000 to one Rohan Lubana for a silver ticket.
On December 9, 2024, Mann handed over one genuine ticket at Sanskar’s residence. Later, on December 14, just before the concert, he gave him eight more tickets behind the Sector-17 ISBT.
However, when Sanskar and his friends reached the concert, event organisers scanned the tickets and found them to be fake. Security officials confiscated six of them, while Sanskar managed to keep others as proof.
Upon realising he had been cheated, Sanskar demanded a refund, but none of the accused returned the money.
He finally lodged a complaint at the Sector-17 police station on Saturday, leading to an FIR under Sections 316 (2), 318 (4), 336 (3), 338, 340 (2) and 61 (2) of BNS. Police are yet to apprehend the accused named in the FIR.