Passenger sans ticket says he bribed TTE to board train in Ludhiana

The matter came to fore when the passenger was caught travelling in the Shaheed Express without a ticket by the checking staff near Ambala

The practice of letting passengers board trains without tickets after accepting bribe from them is going unabated at Ludhiana Railway Station.

A trend of boarding trains without tickets after bribing the travelling ticket examiner seems to be emerging in the city (Representative photo)

The matter came to fore when a passenger was found travelling in the Shaheed Express without a ticket. When he was caught by the ticket checking staff near Ambala and a fine was slapped on him, the passenger said that he had already paid a bribe to a to a staffer at the Ludhiana Railway station, who told him that he wouldn’t be checked.

The head of ticket checking staff has initiated an investigation and issued a warning to the staffers. In a voice recording sent to ticket checking staffers on WhatsApp, chief ticket inspector (CTI) Ripudaman said they are scanning footage from CCTV cameras installed on the railway platform and will trace the accused soon.

Amid the Covid outbreak, only passengers with confirmed tickets are allowed to board trains and those without one are not allowed on the platform.

The passenger who was travelling without ticket, said that a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) had helped him sneak on the platform and taken a bribe from him to make him board the Shaheed Express train at 3.45pm.

He added that the TTE has also given him a mobile phone number asking him to call in case of any problem. However, the number was not reachable when he tried calling him after being caught.