A man pretending to be the chief marketing officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly defrauded a private company of ₹9.6 lakh by falsely offering Indian Premier League (IPL) tickets.

Subodh (name altered), a marketing executive at a real estate firm in Ulsoor, filed a police complaint stating that Santosh Natikar collected money between April 11 and May 1 under the guise of selling tickets for an RCB vs CSK IPL match.

Natikar first approached the firm nearly a year ago, claiming he represented BCCI and pitched a sponsorship opportunity for international matches, quoting around ₹2.5 crore. The company declined, but Natikar stayed in contact and later suggested ad sponsorships on live-streaming platforms.

When the company planned a team outing to an IPL game, they approached Natikar for ticket arrangements. He offered 99 P1 Annex tickets and eight basic stand tickets for the May 3 RCB-CSK match. He quoted ₹6,500 for each P1 ticket and ₹2,500 for each basic one.

Subodh transferred ₹6.4 lakh to a bank account belonging to a woman in Shivamogga, followed by ₹20,000 via a digital wallet. Later, Natikar claimed ticket prices had surged and asked for ₹3 lakh more, which Subodh paid in cash. After this, Natikar vanished and became unreachable.

A complaint was lodged with Commercial Street police on May 17. Authorities confirmed Natikar has no links to BCCI and booked him under BNS Section 318 for cheating. Efforts to trace him are underway.