Railways unearths illegal booking of E-tickets

The Railway Protection Force, Mysuru division, under South Western Railway, has unearthed illegal booking of Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) E-tickets, by touts.

“The railways, in an attempt to restart train services, introduced more than 100 pairs of trains on select routes across the nation, commencing on June 1. Since then, there is a huge demand for tickets on a majority of the routes. Several complaints were received regarding touts using multiple identities to book tickets in these trains. It was complained that they were selling the tickets at a premium,” Divisional Railway Manager Priya Shetty said.

A press note states, “On a specific information of touting activities, during the unprecedented time of the global pandemic of Covid-19, the Crime Intelligence Branch of the Railway Protection Force, Mysuru division, launched a drive to identify such illegal activities. The CIB team collected the PNRs, had them analysed through software and then zeroed in on the suspects."

"On July 15, on the strength of a search warrant obtained from the Railway Magistrate, Mysuru, Krishnaji Rao, the sub-inspector and his team conducted a search at the Government Fair Price Shop, Hullehalli, Kadur taluk, Chikkmagaluru district, and arrested the accused H G Puttaswamy, 26 years, and recovered 48 E-tickets worth Rs 17,054 and one mobile phone. In this connection, a case has been registered at the RPF outpost at Birur, under Section 143 of the Railways Act, 1989,” the press note states.