Black marketers surface at Justin Bieber's Navi Mumbai concert

Thousands of the Beliebers who had made late entries, without any passes in hand, at the DY Patil Stadium, were approached by scalpers openly offering tickets with prices ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000

Shrikant S (in black t-shirt)

Thousands of the Beliebers who had made late entries, without any passes in hand, at the DY Patil Stadium, were approached by scalpers openly offering tickets with prices ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. Different categories of tickets of course had different rates, and fans were ready to cough up the amount, just to catch a glimpse of the Canadian star. The mid-day reporter on the spot, roaming outside gate numbers 6, 7, 8 and 9, was in fact himself approached by quite a few people selling tickets in black.

Shreyas Nair 21, a second year college student, shared with us his rate-card: VVIP Pass for Rs 50,000, Diamond Pass for Rs 25,000, Platinum Pass for Rs 18,000, Gold Pass Rs 15,000, Silver Pass for R10,000, and General Pass for Rs 5,000. Shreyas had more than 500 passes with him, and was with a group of three, also charging similar commission: "If I sell a VVIP pass, I will get commission of Rs 5,000, Rs 2,500 for Diamond; likewise with other categories, all the way down to Rs 500 for a 'general ticket'. It's just time-pass, which will earn me pocket money for hardly a week," Shreyas said. When we inquired about the passes in the 'general category' being sold at the counter, the printed price was Rs 2,500, while scalpers were selling at double the rates.

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Shrikant S, another boy, wearing an identity card of an online booking site, was busy facilitating entries of Justin Bieber fans, but only if they needed more than three tickets, given the huge margins in such a sale. We also came across a gentleman, who had to make an emergency exit, and therefore was selling his Platinum Pass of Rs 15,000, for just Rs 8,000!

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