Overview
- Lucknow Police, who arrested four men on Thursday, say the group sold forged IPL tickets outside Ekana Stadium.
- Officers say the men used ChatGPT for ticket sizes and paper specs, rebuilt layouts in CorelDRAW from social posts, and printed on 170‑GSM sheets to pass gate checks.
- A fan’s Rs 1,000 UPI payment helped trace the sellers after gate staff flagged his pass as fake, leading to the seizure of 15 tickets, a laptop, four phones and a car.
- The accused from Durg in Chhattisgarh had tried to sell near Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium, saw barcode mismatches expose them, then refined the design before arriving in Lucknow on May 6.
- In Delhi, the Crime Branch on Friday arrested three who posed as cricket body reps, recovering 54 tickets including 33 complimentary passes marked not for sale, and is probing ties to betting rackets.