Hyderabad, July 10: Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) President A. Jagan Mohan Rao has been arrested in the IPL 2025 ticket scam. Four senior officials were also detained along with him by the Telangana Crime Investigation Department on Wednesday.
The other officials arrested are HCA treasurer C. Srinivas Rao, CEO Sunil Kante, general secretary Rajendra Yadav and Rao’s wife G. Kavitha. All of them have been accused of blackmailing Sunrisers Hyderabad for tickets. As per BCCI rules, the home state stadium of any team gets 10% of the stadium’s capacity as free passes.
When did the case start?
Telangana Cricket Association (TCA) general secretary Dharma Gurav Reddy filed a complaint on June 9. In this, serious allegations like forgery, manipulation and pressure were made against HCA. Based on the complaint, CID has registered a case under several sections of IPC, including 465 (forgery), 468 (cheating), 471 (using fake document as genuine), 403 (fraudulently possessing property), 409 (breach of trust) and 420 (cheating). It is alleged that Rao had submitted fake documents to participate in the elections.
Pressure from SRH for tickets
HCA is accused of demanding more free passes from IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) than the stipulated limit. As per the agreement between SRH, HCA and BCCI, HCA should get only 3,900 free tickets (10% of the stadium capacity). But HCA officials demanded 10% extra tickets, which SRH refused.
SRH also alleged that a few hours before the match against Lucknow Supergiants on March 27, the HCA president locked a corporate box and demanded 20 extra tickets. This was a violation of the agreement .
SRH had threatened to change the state
The situation got so bad that SRH complained to the IPL Governing Council and BCCI and said that if the pressure tactics don’t stop, they might shift their home matches to another state.
Only 3,900 tickets will still be available
To reduce tension, HCA secretary R. Devaraj held a meeting with the SRH team manager. It was decided that HCA will get only 3,900 free passes, as has been the case earlier. SRH and HCA said in a joint statement that now they will work together in a professional manner so that the spectators can have a good experience.