IPL free tickets row: Hyderabad Cricket Association president arrested by CID
Hyderabad: Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) President A. Jagan Mohan Rao was arrested on Wednesday, July 9, 2025, by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) after a vigilance report revealed serious irregularities in the association’s handling of IPL match tickets and internal governance.
According to the Telangana Vigilance Commission, Jagan Mohan Rao and other HCA office-bearers exerted pressure on IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to provide additional complimentary tickets beyond the agreed limit of 10 percent. The report also found that some of these tickets were sought for personal sale and unauthorized distribution.
In one incident, during an IPL match, HCA officials allegedly locked a corporate box to coerce SRH into handing over more tickets. Based on this, the CID registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Jagan Mohan Rao and several others for alleged misuse of authority, black-marketing of tickets, and governance failures. Jagan Mohan Rao was taken into custody as part of the inquiry.
The arrest follows a series of disputes between HCA and SRH that have played out over the past year. In the previous IPL season, SRH formally accused the HCA leadership of coercive and unprofessional conduct, specifically over repeated demands for free tickets. The franchise had even warned that it might consider relocating home matches out of Hyderabad if such pressure continued.
In response to these concerns, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy ordered a vigilance inquiry in early April. Around the same time, HCA and SRH representatives held a meeting at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium to address the friction. SRH officials, Kiran, Saravanan, and Rohit Suresh, met with HCA Secretary R. Devraj, while SRH CEO Shanmugam joined the discussions virtually.
The meeting focused on reaffirming the terms of the tripartite agreement between SRH, HCA, and the BCCI, which entitles the HCA to 10 percent of stadium capacity in the form of complimentary passes. Both parties agreed to continue the existing allocation of approximately 3,900 passes across all categories.
However, tensions had flared earlier in the season when HCA insisted that the F12A corporate box, traditionally allocated 50 complimentary tickets, now had a reduced capacity of 30 seats. The association demanded 20 additional passes in another box to make up the difference. SRH objected to this claim and refused to provide the extra tickets. Matters escalated when HCA officials allegedly locked the F3 box during a match and refused to open it unless the additional tickets were handed over. SRH later raised the issue formally in a letter to HCA treasurer C. J. Srinivasa Rao, describing the move as unprofessional and a violation of their rights as stadium tenants during the IPL.
Although the April meeting was presented as a resolution to these disputes, the vigilance inquiry continued in parallel. The findings ultimately led to Jagan Mohan Rao’s arrest and an ongoing criminal investigation into the broader functioning of the Hyderabad Cricket Association.
