Agent sells rail tickets in black, held
A travel agent who used to procure confirmed tickets of express trains in bulk and sell them illegally to needy travellers at double the price has been arrested by the crime branch of Delhi Police.
A travel agent who used to procure confirmed tickets of express trains in bulk and sell them illegally to needy travellers at double the price has been arrested by the crime branch of Delhi Police.
The police recovered 70 confirmed AC and non-AC tickets of different trains from the possession of the travel agent, Mukesh Kumar Rai of Paharganj.
According to police, the tickets were booked in the name of fictitious people. Rai had procured the tickets from one Lalit alias Munna Neta, who police believes is a big fish in the racket of procuring train tickets through illegal means and selling them to customers, a senior crime branch officer said.
Lalit allegedly has contacts with dozens of touts at the New Delhi Railway Station, who arranged customers for him. "He used to book the tickets two to three months prior to the date of journey and used to sell these tickets on the scheduled date of journey at double the price," said the senior officer, adding that Lalit is on the run.
Sanjay Kumar Jain,DCP (crime and railways), said Rai was arrested from his travel agency office at Paharganj near the New Delhi railway station following investigation into a complaint filed by a passenger, Mukesh Chaudhary.
"The complainant did not get reservation for his journey to Mumbai and was told by someone that he can get confirmed tickets from the travel agency. Chaudhary went to Rai's office and asked for a ticket to Mumbai. He was given a confirmed ticket of Paschim Express train for his journey to Mumbai. He was charged Rs 1,000 for the ticket which was originally for Rs 414," said Jain.
The ticket, Jain said, was issued on March 23 for a male passenger of 30 years of age. As the complainant did not want to travel on the ticket issued in the name of some other person, he asked for a refund but the travel agent refused to do so, Jain said.
"A raid was conducted at the travel agency from where Rai was arrested with another 69 rail tickets booked for July 4 in fictitious names," added Jain.