The Borivali police in Mumbai have arrested six individuals allegedly involved in selling counterfeit passes for the “Rang Raas with Bhoomi Trivedi Navratri 2024” event. A total of seven people are under investigation in connection with this ticket scam.
The issue came to light when attendees reported that the QR codes on their passes were not scanning properly, prompting event organizer Kunal Turakhia (29) to contact the police for assistance.
Official passes for the Garba event were being sold on BookMyShow for Rs1,000 each. Over the past two days, multiple attendees noticed issues with their QR codes, leading Turakhia’s team to investigate further. They discovered discrepancies in the color, QR codes, and paper quality of the passes, indicating they were fake. Additionally, it was found that some individuals were selling these counterfeit passes at lower prices in the vicinity.
On October 7, Turakhia received information about fake passes being sold near Mahavir Nagar and Star Bazaar in Borivali West. He and his team managed to obtain two mobile numbers associated with the sellers. After contacting them, they arranged to meet at the event’s entrance gate. During questioning, one suspect admitted to selling the fake passes for Rs400 each, revealing that they had been printed at a stationery shop in Kandivali. The group had printed a total of 600 fake passes, with 450 already sold.
Estimating a loss of approximately Rs6 lakh, Turakhia filed a complaint at the Borivali police station. Based on his report, police registered a case against the accused: Ansh Nagaar, Bhavya Makwana, Prem Chawda, Raj Makwana, Yash Mehta, Keyur Nyayi, and Manoj Chawda. All except Prem Chawda have been arrested, and the suspects, aged between 19 and 20, are currently under investigation.