Around 16,000 railway passengers who booked their train tickets through unauthorized agents between April 2021 to February 2022 not only lost their money but were also not allowed to travel as their tickets were seized and cancelled by rail officials.
In the current financial year, both zonal railways (Central and Western) seized over 20,000 tickets (including over 5,000 unused tickets) valued at over 2.50 crores. During the period, around 800 cases of touting of tickets were registered and around 1,000 accused were arrested by both zonal railways.
"Out of over 5,000 unused tickets, around 1,900 were seized by Railway Police Force (RPF) CR, while 3,100 were seized by RPF WR during the current financial year," a senior railway official said confirming the development.
"RPF of Central Railway and Western Railway intensified the campaign against touts to counter the menace of touting of railway reservation tickets and to safeguard the interest of bonafide passengers," he said.
"RPF teams conducted raids based on the data received from cyber cells and other inputs. These raids were mostly conducted in the premises of private travel agencies," said a senior officer of CR adding that during the current year from April 2021 to February 2022, in all 267 cases of touting registered and so far, 328 persons were arrested under section 143 of Railways Act.
From these raids, 7,774 tickets including E-tickets and counter tickets worth Rs. 1.20 crore were seized, he added.
"Out of 267 cases, 121 cases of touting were registered by Mumbai Division alone during the current year from April 21 to February 22 and so far 159 persons arrested. Also, 4,478 tickets including, E-tickets and counter tickets worth Rs.74.06 lakh were seized from them," said another officer of CR.
The Central Railway RPF has established IT Cells and Skill Development Centres equipped with various software like 'PRABAL' and others which assists in E-touting investigation, Cyberspace surveillance, CCTV monitoring etc.
From April 2020 to February 2021, the CR RPF has registered 316 cases of touting with the seizure of 10,179 tickets worth Rs.167.59 lakh. During the period, 341 ticket touting accused were arrested CR RPF.
Similarly, RPF Western Railway also formed special teams of dedicated staff of 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 and illegal software to issue tickets, thereby charging extra money from innocent passengers," said a senior officer of WR adding that between January 2021 to December 2022, RPF WR arrested 824 persons in 684 cases of touting and seized total 19,268 tickets worth approx. Rs. 2.18 crores including 3231 live ( unused) tickets valued over Rs 50 lakh.
Between January 2020 to December 2020, WR RPF registered 791 cases of ticket touting and arrested -931 accused, said the official.
WR officials stated that they have also conducted several awareness campaigns for sensitizing the public to discourage purchasing tickets through illegal means.
The campaign also aims to educate passengers regarding the legal provisions of section 143 of the Railways Act and the consequences of buying tickets/e-tickets from touts.
"Railways appeal to the passengers to travel with valid railway tickets and not to buy tickets from touts involved in online e-ticketing as they cannot perform their journey because their tickets are blocked on account of legal action," said a senior railway official.
