Goa ODI ticket scam of 2001: All nine accused, including former GCA chief, acquitted

A court in Goa on Friday acquitted nine persons, including former Goa Cricket Association chief Dayanand Narvekar, in a 2001 case related to fake tickets for an international match.

Margao police had accused Narvekar, then GCA treasurer Rama Shankar Das and then secretary Vinod Phadke, and a contractor, identified as Chinmay Fallari, of printing fake tickets for a One-Day International (ODI) between India and Australia on April 6 that year.

They had allegedly manipulated the tender for a consideration of Rs 68 lakh and had printed 29,000 tickets in excess of the stadium's capacity, the police charge sheet had stated. Nine accused, who were charged under IPC sections 471 (forgery), 420 (cheating), 201 (destruction of evidence) and 120-B (hatching criminal conspiracy), were acquitted by Margao Judicial Magistrate First Class Santan Da Silva.