Railway Protection Force recovers railway tickets worth Rs 3.44 lakh, apprehended 23 touts

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 19 : The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has recovered railway tickets worth more than Rs 3.44 lakh and apprehended 23 touts, the Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De said.
RPF of Northeast Frontier Railway conducted a raid and search at different locations over Northeast Frontier Railway during the last few days to check illegal sale of railway tickets.
The raid was conducted between March 11 to 18, 2022. 344 railway tickets worth more than Rs 3.44 lakh were recovered. RPF also apprehended 23 persons during this period, for illegal involvement in procuring and supplying railway tickets and prosecuted them under section 143 of the Railways Act.
In an incident on March 18, 2022, the RPF team of Agartala conducted a drive against the illegal business of railway e-ticketing at a shop named 'Ramthakur Enterprise', located at Jogendranagar of West Tripura (Tripura).
During the raid and search, they apprehended the shop owner and recovered 10 past railway e-tickets, worth about Rs 7 thousand, which were generated by using a personal user ID.
In this regard, Inspector of Protection Force, Agartala registered a case under section 143 of the Railways Act. On that day, a decoy check was conducted at the shop of "ss & ms digital photo studio" situated at Damcherra, North Tripura by the special RPF team of Dharmanagar and obtained one railway e-ticket.
An extra charge was taken by one who generated the ticket at the shop. Accordingly, a raid was conducted at the said shop with the assistance of local police and the person was apprehended.
A total of 14 railway e-tickets worth about Rs 59,696/- which were generated by using personal user IDs were recovered. In this regard, Inspector of Protection Force, Dharmanagar registered a case under section 143 of the Railways Act, the officer said.
In another incident on March 17, 2022, the RPF team of Badarpur conducted a raid and search against touting activities in a shop namely "Riya Varieties & Travels" located near New Karimganj station and recovered 30 used railway e-tickets, valued at more than Rs 30 thousand.
The owner of the shop was apprehended and prosecuted under section 143 of the Railways Act.
On the same day, the RPF team of Silchar, with the assistance of local police conducted a raid and search against touting activities in a shop namely "J. S. Tele Point" located at Algapur market, Silchar and recovered 5 used railway e-tickets, valued about Rs 1892.
One person was apprehended in this regard and prosecuted under section 143 of the Railways Act.
Again on that day, the RPF team of Dimapur conducted checking against illegal business of railway e-ticketing at a shop namely, "Smart Hub" located at Lahorijan area in Karbi Anglong (Assam) and recovered 4 used railway e-tickets, valued at Rs 650.
In this connection, a person was apprehended and a case was registered under section 143 of the Railways Act.
Moreover, RPF of NF Railway while conducting a raid and search at different shops/agencies at different locations over NF Railway from March 11 to 16, 2022 apprehended 18 touts and recovered 281 railway e-tickets worth over Rs 2.44 lakhs.
RPF of NF Railway keeps a close vigil on touting activities to prevent the illegal selling of Railway Tickets. Unauthorized procurement and supply of railway tickets is a punishable offence under section 143 of the Railways Act.
Passengers are requested to purchase journey tickets from railway/IRCTC authorised agents or PRS/UTS counters only to avoid any problem during the journey, the officer added.