BHUBANESWAR: The Railway Protection Force on Saturday arrested an agent of IRCTC in connection with an e-ticketing fraud since 2016.
“Authorised agents are allotted a user identity by IRCTC to officially book tickets for passengers. There is also a limit on the number of tickets they can book. The accused Bishnu Patnaik of Patnaikia in Puri district was using personal IDs also to make easy money,” said Bhubaneswar RPF IIC, K Sethi.
Patnaik had created about 40 fake user IDs on IRCTC and used to collect a commission of Rs 100 to Rs 500 from passengers to book tickets.
RPF officers have recovered at least 900 tickets worth lakhs from various mail IDs of the accused.
Under the fake name of Alok Sahoo, he had booked two premium tatkal tickets recently for a journey from Vasco da Gama to Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, said RPF sources.
A laptop and three mobile phones have been recovered from Patnaik and verification is on to ascertain the number of tickets he has booked using the fake IDs. They have also recovered currencies in dollars, traced five bank accounts of the accused and are investigating his financial trail, sources said.
“Patnaik, a Plus II pass out, has been working as an authorised IRCTC agent since 2016 and simultaneously booking tickets fraudulently. Initial investigation suggests he has not used any software for faster booking of tickets,” said an RPF officer.
RPF officers have been conducting raids across the country since last month to check the e-ticketing scam.