Justin Bieber India concert: Organisers sent notice over 7,272 'extra' attendees, duty evasion

The Justin Bieber Purpose tour concert which was held in Mumbai on 10 May 2017, received a mixed response. While superfans were in awe of the singer-songwriter, many attendees felt cheated because Bieber lip-synced through most of his performance. However, this is not the reason why the concert organisers are in trouble. [caption id=“attachment_2158247” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Justin Bieber. Image courtesy Reuters[/caption] Arjun Jain, managing director of White Fox which organised the event, has been sent a show-cause notice by the entertainment branch of the Thane Collectorate for alleged duty evasion, reports Mumbai Mirror. This notice was sent on Monday, 22 May 2017. White Fox sought permission for 34,529 attendees, but when a special squad of the entertainment branch went to the Justin Bieber concert in the evening, they found that an additional 7,272 attendees were present. Consequently, the organisers have been asked to pay an additional duty of Rs 92.5 lakh, as well as a penalty of Rs 1.85 crore. As per the notice, the VVIP 1 and VVIP 2 sections were filled with 150 attendees each, when they were supposed to have 93 and 86 people respectively. The VVIP 3 section had an excess of 382 people; it was supposed to have 518 people but 900 people were packed into it. Aside from flouting these regulations, no duty was paid by the organisers, who also failed to inform the Collectorate about the sponsors present at the event. The organisers were given a 10-day period to pay the duty; as they had failed to do so by Saturday, which was the last day, the notice was sent to them on 22 May. Jain collected the notice on behalf of White Fox, and said that his superiors would take a decision regarding the payment of the duty.