Train ticket inspector in dock over 8-year long con

For eight long years, he did not attend duty at the place assigned to him and took travelling allowances of Rs 16,000 per month but the law has finally caught a ticket inspector in Bihar even as a woman colleague allegedly helped him forge his signature in the attendance register.

Indra Narayan Jha, a train ticket inspector, was posted to checking squad in Jamalpur in 2010 but he allegedly did not attend office there and instead continued to work in Bhagalpur, around 60 km away from Jamalpur, for these many years.

Jha landed in trouble in December last year when the anti-corruption bureau in the CBI's Patna office received a tip-off about his alleged activities. It registered a preliminary enquiry on December 18 to check the veracity of the inputs and once confirmed, it filed a regular FIR on February 12.

An investigation by the CBI has brought to light that a ticket inspector Bindu Devi allegedly helped him by forging Jha's signature on attendance register and duty roster register.

According to the CBI, Jha, Devi and Raj Kumar Mandal, Chief Inspector of Ticket in Jamalpur, along with Bhagwan Prasad, CIT (Coach Mining) in Jamalpur, entered into a conspiracy to help the former.

"In pursuance of the said criminal conspiracy, Jha...did not report for his duty at Jamalpur railway station as a member of checking squad of Jamalpur Railway Station. As such he did not perform his duty of checking ticket as per the allotted section for the checking squad as per duty roster register," the FIR said.

The CBI claimed that Jha unauthorisedly remained stationed at Bhagalpur railway station and did checking of tickets at Bhagalpur only.

The FIR claimed that Mandal and Prasad were "fully aware" of the crime being committed by Jha and Devi and they used to " facilitate" Jha in drawing his full salary "without reporting for duty at the place of posting for about 7-8 years ."

"Further Jha claimed and received consolidated Travelling Allowances of Rs 16,000 per month during the said period without actually travelling with the squad," it said.