Mumbai Police Bust Fake Lok Bhavan Railway Ticket Racket; 5 Arrested For Forging Governor's PA Signature To Secure Emergency Quota Tickets

Mumbai: The Malabar Hill police have busted a railway ticket racket that used fake letterheads in the name of Lok Bhavan (Governor’s official residence) and forged signatures of the Governor’s Personal Assistant (PA) to obtain confirmed tickets under the emergency quota. Five people, including alleged mastermind Amrish Thakkar and four touts, have been arrested. While one of them has been identified as Shatrunjay Rajkumar Yadav alias Anoop (34), the identities of the remaining three are yet to be confirmed.

The fraud came to light after the Office of the Chief Commercial Manager of Central Railway sent two letters to Lok Bhavan on February 6 seeking verification of emergency quota ticket requests. The letters carried the forged signature of the Governor’s then PA, Abhay Singh Deshmukh, along with a fake official seal and fabricated content, as per the complaint. The contact details mentioned in the fake letters were also found to be bogus, it added.

Upon verification, Lok Bhavan officials confirmed that the documents had never been issued by the Governor’s office. The complaint was lodged by Vishal Sudhir Shinde, an assistant at Lok Bhavan who has been serving since 2014 and is responsible for coordinating the Governor’s official travel and forwarding emergency quota ticket requests to the Railways on behalf of Lok Bhavan staff. During the verification process, it was discovered that the forged letters had been used to secure confirmed tickets.

According to the police investigation, the accused fraudulently obtained confirmed third AC tickets on the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus– Rajgir Express and the Chapra Express under the emergency quota. Based on Shinde’s complaint, the police registered a case of cheating and forgery and nabbed the accused with the help of technical surveillance and call detail records.

Further investigation is underway to ascertain whether more people were involved in the racket.

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