Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The Railway Police Force (RPF) arrested a notepad-carrying man for allegedly masquerading as a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) and extorting money from passengers by issuing fake tickets in front of the Chennai Central suburban reservation centre on Tuesday, July 18, an official said.
The accused has been identified as Jitendra Shah (38), who hails from Rajasthan and was currently residing in Kodungaiyoor, Chennai. According to the RPF, Jitendra worked as an accountant in his father’s jewellery shop. "After his father's death, Jitendra brainstormed ways to earn easy money. Jitendra said since he speaks fluent Hindi, it gave him an added advantage to fool the North Indians queuing up for railway tickets on the Chennai Central, Egmore, Tambaram, Perambur and Velachery railway station," the railway police official said.
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Jitendra in his statement said that he used to stand near the reservation centre and arrange tickets by claiming to be a railway official to the North Indian workers who would inquire for tickets. He would write the name of the passenger, their age, the name of the train and seat number and other essential details with the stamp of the Executive Officer on a blank white paper. He used to sell the same fake tickets to passengers by demanding double the ticket price from them.
During the inquiry, he confessed that he cheated several passengers by using a 10 Rupee notepad, rubber stamp, and pen. Later, the RPF seized rubber stamps from him and further probe is on.
After seeing such cases of fake tickets, the railway administration has issued an advisory in which they mentioned that the Railway Police can be contacted at 1512 and the WhatsApp number is 9962500500.
