DDCA spent crores on buying 'free' IPL tickets?

The day was April 21, 2013. Delhi Daredevils, playing on their home ground and chasing a target of 162 runs, had defeated Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets with 3 overs to spare, owing to a swashbuckling 95 runs off 55 balls by champion batsman Virender Sehwag.

Sehwag, who had earlier lambasted the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) over its mismanagement and threatened to quit the state team, was however unaware of how the tickets for this match had been bought and sold by DDCA. Tickets for the match were purchased by DDCA from GMR Sports Pvt Ltd, the owners of the Delhi Daredevils franchise for double the price of what tickets for the same stands for other matches cost.

Documents, internal emails and audit reports in dna's possession show that DDCA office-bearers, who stand accused of massive financial bunglings, were using the association's funds to purchase tickets from GMR for various IPL matches held at Delhi despite being entitled to complimentary tickets.

A tripartite agreement, a copy of which is with dna, states that DDCA was to be provided 15% of each category of tickets "free of charge" by GMR Sports Pvt Ltd. DDCA was entitled to 6,300 complimentary tickets from GMR for every match according to the contract. However, the functionaries of the association including its president Sneh Prakash Bansal, repeatedly asked GMR for tickets. The association's funds were used to purchase the tickets.

In an email on April 16, 2013, DDCA president SP Bansal wrote to P Phaneendra, the general manager of GMR Sports Pvt Ltd, "As per our telephonic talk, kindly give CK Bharadwaj all tickets on credit." Bharadwaj was an employee of DDCA. Tickets were then sold by GMR to DDCA for three matches to be held at the Ferozeshah Kotla between April 18-23, 2013.

On April 21, when Delhi Daredevils played Mumbai Indians, 1,560 tickets were sold to DDCA for a sum of Rs 20 lakh. A majority of these tickets were for the East Stand Second Floor and were sold for Rs 1,000 a piece. Around 60 tickets in the Old Clubhouse First Floor were sold for Rs 7,000 per ticket. Documents show that DDCA paid double the cost for the East Stand tickets for the Delhi-Mumbai match. The same ticket for the Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings match held a few days earlier on April 18 was purchased by DDCA from GMR at half the cost for Rs 500.

On April 23, when Delhi played against Kings XI Punjab, the tickets were purchased for Rs 500. On May 7, 2013, TCA Jayant, a consultant with GMR Sports wrote to his colleagues asking for more tickets to be issued for the May 10 encounter between Delhi and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The email reads, "Please issue 10 Old Clubhouse tickets for Mr Bansal from DDCA." A total of 2,200 tickets were sold to DDCA for the match for a sum of Rs 18 lakh.

During the IPL 2013 season, the DDCA spent Rs 52 lakh for buying tickets for just four matches despite having also taken 25,000 complimentary tickets from GMR Sports. DDCA president SP Bansal did not respond to dna's emails.

HOW DDCA PAID GMR FOR THE TICKETS

The trend of buying tickets by DDCA seemed to have continued for many years and this time the price paid by the association grew manifold. In an email on May 15, 2014 DDCA president Bansal wrote to GMR, "Äs discussed give instructions to deliver the following tickets on DDCA account on credit."

In the email, Bansal asked tickets for corporate boxes among other things. The tickets sought for by Bansal was for the match between Delhi and Kings XI Punjab held on May 19, 2014. Tickets were issued to Bansal with the West Side Corporate Box being sold at Rs 14,000 a ticket. DDCA also bought 10 tickets in the Super Hospitality Hill A box for Rs 21,000 a piece. For one match alone tickets worth Rs 20 lakh were bought on DDCA's account by its president. While most of the tickets were being taken by BCCI functionaries on credit, GMR devised its own way billing DDCA for the same.

In 2015, DDCA asked GMR Sports to pay Rs 1 crore as expenses for IPL 2014. In a letter dated July 21, 2015, Hemant Dua, the CEO of GMR Sports disputed DDCA's claims. In the letter Dua told DDCA that GMR would be deducting Rs 22 lakh from the amount payable to DDCA for "tickets purchased for IPL 2014 authorised by the DDCA president."

Sunil Jain, a DDCA member says, "There was no need to buy tickets in the first place. Eventually, the money was deducted by GMR from DDCA's dues. This caused loss of several crores over the years to the DDCA. No one knows what happened to the tickets that were bought." GMR spokesperson defended the ticket sales, "Complimentary tickets given to DDCA were as per the contract. DDCA is also entitled to buy tickets whenever they have additional requirements over and above the complimentary tickets."

WHAT DID DDCA DO WITH THE TICKETS?

Despite tickets worth several crores purchased by DDCA from GMR over many IPL seasons, no one knows what were the tickets used for.

Sameer Bahadur of the NCT Cricket Association says, "Most of these tickets were sold in black by DDCA officials. Since none of them paid from it from their pockets, most ended up minting enormous money from its sale. Money was minted from tickets in every conceivable way."

In a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on September 13, 2015, BJP MP Kirti Azad raised the prospect of a ticketing scam not just involving the IPL but international matches as well. Azad pointed out that DDCA was earmarking thousands of tickets to be doled out for free and under-pricing the most coveted stands in the stadium to evade entertainment tax.

In a direct attack on Jaitley, Azad wrote, "Ünderpricing tickets just to save entertainment tax was a great ploy to keep everyone happy. Even if it meant cheating the exchequer, you did not deem it proper to do a fair analysis of the entire costing process." Emails accessed by dna point to possible diversion of coveted IPL tickets to bureaucrats and politicians.

In an email on May 13, 2014 Bansal had demanded corporate box tickets costing several lakhs for the match between Delhi and Hyderabad Sunrisers. Curiously in the same email to GMR, Bansal wrote, "Älso send 4 to 5 car park for government officials."

ANOTHER IPL SCAM IN THE MAKING?

A Serious Frauds Investigation Office (SFIO) report that was flashed by AAP to target Jaitley had also flagged dealings during the IPL between GMR and DDCA. The report observed that DDCA was incurring expenses in the IPL which should have been borne by GMR and that there were proprietary issues with most expenses incurred by DDCA. The SFIO also pointed out that DDCA had incurred several lakhs in expenses relating to security, tents, printing and tickets for VIPs.

The report notes, "Vouchers have been generated for purchase of IPL tickets for staff. Whereas as per clause 2 of the agreement, GMR will provide complimentary tickets/passes to DDCA for external agencies, departments and VIPs." DDCA replied to the Investigating Officer's allegations by saying that it had paid GMR for the free tickets to " to promote the game of cricket and maintain healthy relations with all parties."