E-ticket scam derails Rlys in Bihar

Staff and agencies dealing with booking involved in cyber crime

Several railway employees and agencies dealing with on-line ticket booking are reportedly involved in the cyber crime, which has bled the railways white.

According to the modus operandi, the franchise or the agency dealing with e-ticketing, in connivance with railway employees, would get a train cancelled for a short duration on the passenger reservation system (PRS) and get the money refunded to their account, even though the train was very much into the operation. Once the money was credited back to their account, the system was restored.
The e-ticket scam would have remained undetected had it not been a bad luck for one of the railway employees Brajesh Kumar, who could not restore the system 20 days ago which led to the detection of this clandestine trade of laundering of railway money. “On April 2, the Lichavi Express departed from Sitamarhi to Delhi. The control room at Samastipur was informed that the PRS at Sugauli was showing the train as cancelled, where as the train had actually started its journey,” said a top ECR official who is investigating the matter.

“The IRCTC agents or franchise issuing e-tickets, in connivance with railway staff, would get the train cancelled on PRS for 15 to 30 minutes and get the automatic refund of money, without affecting passengers’ travel plan,” said the official.
“After this racket was unearthed and probe initiated, six railway employees of the ECR – Pankaj Chowdhary (enquiry-cum-reservation clerk), Jamal Akhtar (commercial supervisor), Ramesh Jha (booking clerk), Arvind Mishra (reservation supervisor), Brajesh Kumar and Binod Kumar Das (booking clerks) have been placed under suspension for tampering with the PRS without prior permission and showing the trains as cancelled,” said Chief Public Relation Officer (CPRO) of ECR Dilip Kumar.
According to an ECR official, the Saptakranti Express was shown cancelled on more than 70 times by the cyber crime experts. The 2309 Rajdhani Express was also shown cancelled on four occasions in March. “So far we have come across 310 trains which were cancelled for various durations on different days,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Railway Board has taken up the matter seriously and asked the ECR to submit all relevant papers immediately. It has also asked the ECR not to cancel any train without the permission of the Railway Board.
DH News Service