Pan India railway ticketing racket on VIP quota busted in Bihar's Muzaffarpur, 200 fake letter pads of MPs seized

Before the raiding team of the police could lay their hand on the tout, he fled from his house. Later, police confiscated a huge haul of letterhead pads of LS and RS MPs.

Muzaffarpur (Bihar): A railway ticketing racket has been uncovered by police in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar on Tuesday. The cartel of touts involved in the scam provided confirmed railway reservation tickets on VIP, particularly MP quotas, by presenting fake letterheads of at least 200 Lok Sabha (LS) and Rajya Sabha (RS) MPs. The tout’s modus operandi was to get confirmed reservation tickets on the VIP quota by presenting the fake letterheads while seeking confirmation for the railway reservation ticket.

However, the racket was busted when a team from Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Andhra Pradesh came to Bihar to investigate an old case. A case had been filed at the Marupulam RPF post on June 1, 2022, regarding railway ticketing brokerage. Further investigation led to the discovery of the racket in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district. A joint team of RPF Visakhapatnam and Bihar police raided the Srinagar Colony in Gobarsahi area of the district to arrest the accused. However, the tout had fled before the police could apprehend him.

The Muzaffarpur police said that letter pads carrying the names of more than 200 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs were recovered from the tout's house. Several other people involved in the racket have been detained for questioning. The people seeking confirmed railway tickets were sending the PNR details to the kingpin of the racket, who was sitting in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. People living in any part of the country could message the PNR number to the mastermind of the racket, who would then arrange a confirmed reservation ticket for a hefty sum of money as cut money.

The police believe that the racket had been operating for a while and was making significant profits. They are also investigating the possibility of a larger nexus behind the racket. The busting of this racket is a significant development in the efforts to curb ticketing fraud in the country.

Railway ticketing fraud has been a persistent problem in India, with touts and agents involved in scams to obtain tickets, particularly during peak seasons. In response, the Indian Railways has taken several measures to prevent ticketing fraud, including the introduction of online booking systems, biometric verification of passengers, and strict enforcement of rules and regulations. However, such measures have not been entirely successful in curbing ticketing fraud, and incidents like this continue to be reported across the country.

Inspector R Kumar Rao from Visakhapatnam along with his team had reached Muzaffarpur. The joint team of Bihar and Andhra RPF had raided the tout's house located in Srinagar colony, the police said.