RPF busts tatkal ticket racket, one held

Bareilly: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Sunday busted a tatkal ticket racket and arrested a chief commercial-cum-reservation supervisor posted at Pitambarpur station in Bareilly for allegedly running it in cahoots with a Mumbai-based tout.Senior divisional commercial manager (Moradabad) Aditya Gupta told TOI: “We have suspended the accused, Shailendra Dubey. A probe is underway.”RPF seized three tatkal tickets worth Rs 20,455, a high-end mobile phone and a debit card. The alleged mastermind, Mumbai resident Ravindra Sahu, is absconding.RPF officials said Dubey was caught red-handed, uncovering a racket targeting tatkal bookings mainly for remote stations such as Cooch Behar and Darbhanga.

Sahu allegedly paid Dubey Rs 5,000-7,000 per ticket and gave him his wife’s debit card to purchase them.“Dubey would send photographs of the tatkal tickets to Sahu over WhatsApp, who then prepared fake window tickets and sold them to passengers at inflated rates,” a RPF official said.During questioning, Dubey admitted to issuing two to three such tickets per shift, earning Rs 10,000-15,000 a day illegally, while passengers were charged Rs 500-1,000 extra per ticket, an official added.An FIR has been registered against the accused under Section 143 of the Railways Act.(With inputs from Asif Ansari)