68-year-old fake ticket checker held, cites job loss for crime

MUMBAI: A 68-year-old man was arrested for posing as a ticket checker and knocking off money from a passenger in a local train at Andheri recently. Arvind Mehta, the accused, told the GRP that he took to crime after losing his job and his son’s refusal to maintain him. Mehta was convicted for a similar offence in the past.

On December 12, a passenger, Haresh Minat, boarded a Churchgate fast local from Dahisar to travel to Andheri. Around 10am, he got off the local at Andheri when Mehta “caught”' him on platform number seven.

Dressed in a white shirt and tie, Mehta asked Minat to produce his ticket and inquired why had he had travelled illegally in the handicapped coach. Minat said he was in a hurry to reach his workplace. Mehta demanded that he pay a fine for illegal travel in a reserved compartment.

He took cash from Minat but did not give him a receipt. Minat got suspicious and alerted policemen on the platform.

They made inquiries with Mehta and took him into custody on realizing that he wasn’t a genuine ticket checker. A search of his person threw up the money he had knocked off from Minat. Mehta was taken to the Andheri GRP outpost and was booked under provisions of Indian Penal Code for cheating, besides the Indian Railway Act.

Mehta is a resident of Charkop in Kandivli. On interrogating him, police found out that he had been convicted in a cheating case where he had similarly posed as a ticket checker and served six months in prison for it earlier.

“We asked him why did he resort to crime at such an age. He said he was widowed and his son had refused to bear his expenses. Mehta used to work in a company which shut down, leaving him with no source of income,” said a police officer. He was produced before a railway court and remanded to judicial custody.