Mumbai: Navy employee arrested for selling railway tickets illegally

Wadala Railway Police Force (RPF) arrested a tradesman mate of the Indian Navy on Saturday for booking e-tickets and tatkal tickets illegally for a commission of ₹200 each.

Wadala Railway Police Force (RPF) arrested a tradesman mate of the Indian Navy on Saturday for booking e-tickets and tatkal tickets illegally for a commission of ₹200 each.

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According to officers of the anti-tout squad (ATS) of RPF, the accused has been identified as Parej Prabhakar Pimpol, 35. DH Patil, inspector, Wadala RPF, said ATS arrested Pimpol from GTB Nagar station when he was waiting for a railway clerk to hand over the tickets he had booked illegally. Pimpol was arrested with 13 e-tickets worth ₹35,693.

Officials said that Pimpol had joined the Indian Navy in 2016 and was working as a tradesman mate. A few months later, the Railways had given a Passenger Reservation Centre at Navy Nagar to the Navy and asked their men to run it for Navy ticket bookings. A tradesman mate is usually employed to work in the production and maintenance section of the dock, ship or submarine.

As Pimpol knew how to operate a computer, he was given training by a Railways clerk named Vinod Kumar for three days. After the training, Kumar allegedly told Pimpol to book tickets illegally for commuters who were ready to pay ₹200 for each tatkal ticket which Pimpol did from his personal mobile phone and user IDs.

“On Saturday, when Pimpol went to GTB Nagar railway station to hand over the e-tickets to Kumar, he was caught by RPF ATS,” said Patil. On searching his bag, the police found a diary where Pimpol had written his user IDs and other details of passengers whose tickets he had booked through tatkal.

The police are now in the process to question Kumar. They are also trying to find out whether more Navy personnel or tradesman mates are involved in illegal ticket booking.