Central Railway launches crack-down against touts

Mumbai: To curb the menace of unauthorised agents who book tickets online in bulk, sometimes using illegal software, and indulge in black-marketing, Central Railway (CR) has launched a massive drive against such activities across its five divisions.

Teams of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and CR's Commercial and Vigilance Departments conducted joint raids at several places over the last few days and seized illegally bought tickets besides making arrests, CR's chief PRO Sunil Udasi told PTI.

Acting on a tip-off, the team raided a shop in Chembur in Mumbai yesterday and arrested Sandip Sharma and Shivkumar Gupta who booked tickets on the IRCTC website using fake personal user IDs and sold them for a premium, he said.

The accused used an illegal software named `NEO' to book tickets through 41 fake personal user IDs. Forty-two e-tickets worth Rs 1.15 lakh were recovered from them.

The duo were booked under section 143 (`unauthorised carrying on of business of procuring and supplying of railway tickets') of the Railways Act.

Earlier, on October 15, a raid was conducted at an outlet near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) here and 21 tickets worth Rs 80,750, cancelled tickets, Rs 45,750 in cash, 58 filled forms, a CPU, an external hard disk, a receipt book and other documents were seized from the owner who was arrested, Udasi said.

On October 17, a man was arrested when he was found to be looking for buyers for tickets of long-distance trains at the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in suburban Kurla.

Another tout was nabbed in Kalbadevi area in South Mumbai, while the Crime Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the RPF yesterday arrested a tout in Nagpur and recovered 11 e-tickets worth Rs 11,850 from him.

"Normally, during peak seasons such as Diwali, these touts try to cash in on the opportunity. We have started this drive to show our zero tolerance for such activities and it will continue," the chief PRO said.