Nagpur: Taking advantage of last minute rush of passengers in summer vacation, illegal agents dealing in black marketing of railway tickets have a field day. To curb the menace, Railway Protection Force (RPF) of South East Central Railway (SECR) has launched a drive in Nagpur and surrounding areas.
On Thursday, May 2, teams of RPF rounded up four illegal agents in Kamptee and Parshioni areas and seized e-tickets, cash, computers, laptops, printers and other material collectively worth Rs 2.75 lakh.
The four accused have been identified as Sanjay Ishwarlal Chenani (27), resident of Kathioli, Ward No. 5, Kamptee, Sohel Shakeel Ansari (31), resident of Plot No. 47, G N Road, Kamptee, Mohd Afzal Mohd Aslam Rabbani (32) of Ismailpura, Yerkheda Road, Kamptee and Lucky Narendra Jaiswal (25), resident of Khaparkheda Road, Parshioni.
The four accused procured e-tickets through illegal means through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). Acting on inputs, the RPF teams raided the establishments of four accused and rounded them up. The accused Chenani runs a firm named Balaji Services in Kamptee and the raiding RPF team seized 16 e-tickets worth Rs 22,995, a laptop worth Rs 25,000, printer worth Rs 5,000, a mobile phone worth Rs 10,000 and cash Rs 5650 from his possession.
The second accused Sohel Shakeel Ansari runs a shop named Hafeez Brothers and was indulging in black marketing of railway tickets. RPF has seized total 19 e-tickets worth of which is being esteemated. A computer system, mobile phone and cash collectively worth Rs 48421 have been seized.
Similarly, e-tickets worth Rs 17,000, laptop worth Rs 18,000, printer worth Rs 15,000, a mobile phone worth Rs 15,000 and cash Rs 700 were seized from possession of third accused Mohd Afzal who runs Star Services.
The fourth accused Lucky alias Narendra Jaiswal was found in possession of illegally procured 13 e-tickets worth Rs 28,400. RPF has also seized desktop worth Rs 23,000, printer worth Rs 8000, mobile phone worth Rs 35,000 and cash Rs 170.
During the raids, RPF personnel found the accused were operating fake IDs to book tickets through IRCTC.
The four accused have been booked under Section 143 of Railway Act and placed under arrest. Further investigations are on.
The raids were carried out by Police Inspector Vikas Kumar, PSI Mohd Mugisuddin, ASI Mohan Lal, constables Satish Ingle, Prakash Raishedam, Arun Thorat, R S Bagderiya, Subhash Advare, C Rahangdale, A S Shedam and Pradeep Gadhve under the guidance of Divisional Security Commissioner Ashutosh Pandey and Assistant Security Commissioner A K Swami.
