The Tambaram city police on Friday, September 22, booked the event management company ACTC Events, which handled AR Rahman’s recently-held Marakkuma Nenjam live concert in Chennai’s Adityaram Palace City. The company is accused of selling tickets beyond the capacity of the venue, which resulted in serious mismanagement and a near-stampede situation. The audience complained that overcrowding led to chaos at the venue. A case has been registered by the Kannathur police station for criminal breach of trust.
The live concert held on September 10 was severely criticised by many attendees. Some were injured in the melee, and several women complained of sexual harassment. Some of them had to return without attending the concert as the venue was fully occupied. The event held on East Coast Road also led to severe traffic disruption, even affecting the Chief Minister’s convoy.
Earlier, the police told TNM that even though the venue’s capacity was 20,000 people, 30,000 had turned up. In contradiction, the event organisers claimed that the venue had a capacity of one lakh people.
Following wide-spread allegations of poor management at the concert, music composer AR Rahman had promised to address the grievances of those who could not attend the event despite having a valid ticket. The event management company had also offered an apology.
Following complaints about the event’s mismanagement, the Tambaram police had initiated an investigation. Taking a serious view of the ineffective arrangements by the police, the Director General of Police had transferred officers Deepa Sathyan and Disha Mittal. While Deepa Sathyan was the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), Disha Mittal was the Joint Commissioner.
ACTC Events has been booked under sections 188 (deliberate disobedience) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code.
