Fake railway ticket racket busted, two held

PATNA: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of the Danapur division on Friday busted a gang of touts involved in selling fake railway journey tickets to passengers at a premium.

Two touts — Vivek Kumar and Shambhu Sharma — of Patna were arrested in this connection.

Danapur RPF commandant C M Mishra told reporters on Saturday a joint team of Rajendra Nagar Terminal RPF post and Danapur RPF intelligence wing raided the hideouts of the accused and recovered 37 e-tickets worth over Rs 80,000. “These e-tickets were booked on fake identities and names,” he said.

The raiding team also recovered six ATM cards, two laptops, four cellphones and Rs 1,900 from the possession of the arrested duo. The seized e-tickets were of 2AC, 3AC and Sleeper classes for destinations like Delhi, Howrah, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai, sources said.

Preliminary investigations also revealed these touts were operating from different places during the festive period when confirmed berths were hardly available in long-distance trains. The gang was also operating from Gujarat, Kolkata and Delhi, the sources said.

According to the RPF commandant, the RPF’s intelligence wing was keeping a close watch on the activities of Vivek. He is accused of selling a proxy server ‘Red Mirchi’ to access the IRCTC server easily. “On the basis of his statement, RPF sleuths raided the house of Shambhu at Ashiana Nagar on Friday,” Mishra said.

The RPF commandant said such touts had created an artificial shortage of confirmed berths in premier trains by using a proxy server to access the IRCTC website and book e-tickets in fake names and identities. “We have registered a case under Section 143 of the Railway Act in the Rajendra Nagar Terminal RPF post in this connection,” Mishra said.

Meanwhile, Mishra said, the RPF wing of Danapur division recently launched a ‘Mission Arogyam’ against touts at all major stations of the division.