CBI may probe into Rs 100-crore railway ticketing fraud case

An investigation into the sensational Rs 100-crore railway ticketing fraud, which was reported by MAIL TODAY on Friday, is likely to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Taking a serious note of the matter, the Northern Railway has recommended the Railway Board to seek a CBI enquiry into the case.

Railway officials said the vigilance department of Northern Railway has sent a detailed report to the Railway Board, elaborating on the modus operandi of the gang and the estimated monetary loss that the Indian Railways have incurred in the last several months.

Sources said the reports also details how the gang took advantage of a lack of mechanism for auto-update of reservation charts after departure of train from the source station.

"The report submitted to the Railway Board elaborates how the syndicate used remote areas to claim refund from reservation counters. A thorough departmental enquiry has also been recommended to estimate the exact (monetary) loss caused to the railways," a senior official said.

"As the gang had its presence across all 16 railway zones, the Mail Today had reported about the Rs100-crore ticketing scam on Friday. Northern Railway feels that separate probes by different state government could lead to a lack of uniformity and delay the probe," he added.

Railway authorities believe an early and timely probe can save railway from any further loss. "Fraudsters may continue to claim refunds by cancelling fake train tickets, without any check, from different parts of the country, causing further losses to the railways," he added.

As reported by MAIL TODAY, the Northern Railway vigilance department had busted a pan-India syndicate of ticketing frauds, which has inflicted a loss of over Rs 100 crore to the railways.

Officials found that unidentified syndicates had claimed refund of about Rs 60 lakh, in the last six months, by cancelling tickets of trains originating from Delhi alone.

The gang members received passenger details from insiders and printed fake tickets. They then got these tickets cancelled at remotelylocated reservation counters after the train's departure from the source station.

As per the rules, a PRS ticket can be cancelled from any reservation centre across the country and travellers can get 50 per cent refund of the ticket price after two hours of the departure of the train.

(In association with Mail Today Bureau)