People at the concert of musician AR Rahman, in Chennai, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Tamil Nadu Police on Friday registered a case against the organisers of music composer A R Rahman’s live-in-concert ‘Marakkuma Nenjam’ held in Chennai on September 10 following allegations of mismanagement and overcrowding at the event which led to massive traffic snarls on the East Coast Road.
Tambaram Police filed the case against Hemanth Raja, founder of ACTC Events, and three others under Sections 406 (punishment for committing criminal breach of trust) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), sources told DH.
The action comes after the Tambaram Police conducted a detailed inquiry into the incident for over 10 days, inquiring the organisers and others connected to the event. The police had on September 11 said the event organisers oversold the tickets – while the venue had just over 20,000 chairs, it is believed that nearly 50,000 people had thronged the area.
Raja had on September 13 indirectly admitted that they did oversell tickets, saying while they sold 36,000 tickets, they also gave 5,000 complimentary tickets to various sources. ACTC Events had also apologised for the incident.
Police, in their initial inquiry, found that the organisers had recruited “inexperienced” college students instead of bouncers to control the crowd and make inadequate arrangements for the audience. They also identified “overselling” of tickets beyond the capacity that the venue can hold as the major reason for the chaos.
The chaos at Marakkuma Nenjam also led to overcrowding and severe traffic jams on the ECR. The convoy of Chief Minister M K Stalin who was returning from Mamallapuram was also stuck for 15 minutes due to the snarl and his vehicle had to be diverted through the other lane.
Following this, the government had shunted out Deepa Sathyan, DCP (Pallikaranai), Tambaram Police, and put her on compulsory wait list.
Fans had complained that they weren’t allowed entry and that a stampede-like situation prevailed, while women fans took to social media to allege that they were molested and groped by men in the melee on September 10.
Meanwhile, ACTC events said it has started the process of refunding after due diligence, from all three booking sites. “A million apologies once again for all the inconvenience caused to you and thank you for your patience,” he said.