RPF hunts down over 200 touts since 2017
New Delhi: The Railway Protection Force (RPF)have registered more than 200 cases of touting since 2017. The investigating agency arrested as many as 234 persons from different parts of national Capital.
Meanwhile, during the probe, it was revealed that the accused used various modus operandi which includes operating the illegal business under the garb of cyber cafe's and making fake user IDs to book train tickets.
The RPF data (Delhi-East) accessed by Millennium Post claimed that till December 24, 2018, around 116 cases of touting reported whereas in 2017, RPF registered as many as 106 cases.
Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (RPF) Shashi Kumar stated that for their illegal business accused were booking and selling mass tickets at higher margin to earn profit. "In some cases, we found that more than 200 fake IDs made by racketeers which was later deactivated," said Kumar.
The data further stated that last year around 113 persons arrested. In the current year, the arrest increased to 121 people.
"We also found that the accused made fake identity proof (Aadhar cards) to dodge TT during the railway journey," said Kumar added.
As many as 1,065 tickets recovered in 2017 and the value of these tickets was around Rs 16.31 lakh.
"Comparing to the last year, the recovery increased in 2018 as around 18,265 tickets recovered from the possession of the accused," data claimed adding that these tickets valued more than Rs 24 lakh.
In October this year, one of the biggest e-ticket rackets busted after RPF arrested a 29-year-old man from Delhi. More than 547 fake user IDs found related to the accused phone number. As many as 7,549 e-tickets worth Rs one crore fifty lakhs had been issued from these IDs since June 2014.
"Under the instructions of DG RPF Arun Kumar, we conducted continuous raids against touts and successfully arrested several accused," said Kumar. Further, the investigation in the case revealed that the accused first setup some shops mainly cyber cafes in the area where travellers population is high, then they run an illegal business of touting.
Investigators probing cases of e-ticketing rackets claimed that earlier such gangs used to roam around railway stations, but now they are using technology and are highly active during festival season to earn maximum profits.
