Central Railway’s TC spent fines worth ₹33 lakh on video games

During his interrogation, Vaidya told the police that he would get away with the misappropriation by bribing his seniors during the audits.

Central Railway’s (CR) chief ticket examiner Bhupendra Vaidya, who was arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) on August 6 for allegedly misappropriating around ₹33 lakh that he collected as fines from erring commuters, told police that he had spent most of the money on video games.

Central Railway’s (CR) chief ticket examiner Bhupendra Vaidya, who was arrested by the Government Railway Police (GRP) on August 6 for allegedly misappropriating around ₹33 lakh that he collected as fines from erring commuters (HT File (Representative Image))

“He told us that he is addicted to video games and had spent most of the misappropriated money on games at a video parlour in Thane. The video game parlour’s operator in Thane confirmed Vaidya’s claims,” said assistant inspector Navnath Rupavate of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) GRP.

“Initially, he used to spend his salary on playing video games. But when he started running out of his earnings, he began misusing the cash collected from passengers travelling without tickets,” Rupawate added.

During his interrogation, Vaidya told the police that he would get away with the misappropriation by bribing his seniors during the audits.

After the railways discovered the misappropriation, a police complaint was filed by Sunilkumar Bhagwane, divisional chief inspector, CSMT, following which an FIR was registered against Vaidya in December 2018. He was first suspended from duty and then a penalty chargesheet was filed against him. Vaidya was later dismissed from duty.