AHMEDABAD: The Western Railway in a special drives and raids against touts, luring innocent passengers and charging exorbitant illegal commissions has resulted in the seizure of 46 cases of illegal touting of 1088 E-tickets as well as journey-cum-reservation tickets worth Rs. 26.70 lakhs in the month of April.
Officials said that the action against touts, special drives have been regularly conducted by Western Railway’s Railway Protection Force (RPF) in all six Divisions. The Railway protection Force of Western Railway has formed special teams of dedicated staff from the Detective Wing of RPF Crime Branch, Cyber Cell and Divisions to launch special drives against touts.
It was observed that touts were booking tickets using several fake identity cards, including some authorized IRCTC agents who used fake IDs to issue tickets, thereby charging extra money from innocent passengers. In the year 2022, RPF WR arrested 769 accused of illegal touting and seized tickets worth more than Rs. 32.63 Cr in 629 cases.
Officials said that in just 15 days of April 2023, Western Railway’s RPF detected 46 cases of illegal touting and apprehended 49 persons through special drives. Also 1088 journey tickets including e-tickets worth approx. Rs. 26.70 lakh were seized from them. A case under Section 143 of Railways Act have been registered against the those caught.
