Investigations into possibly the biggest-ever railway touting scam, involving tickets worth over Rs2 crore and counting, now point to a Mumbai-based senior official of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for his proximity to some of the arrested touts. The scam involves usage of an automation software to illegally speed up the ticket booking process on IRCTC's website and, ironically, this official holds a sensitive post in the corporation. Senior railway officials investigating the scam termed this development 'very disturbing'.
Investigators told this paper that the official in question seemed to have been in touch with some of these touts even after the scam broke out on September 24. This official's name came up during interrogation of the arrested touts as well as checking of their cellphones, the investigators said, adding that call data records of several of these touts were being retrieved for investigative analysis.
"Investigations into whether this big cartel of software developer, marketeer and touts was getting insider help from someone in the IRCTC are now in an advanced stage. Around 53% of all tickets are booked on the IRCTC website. To think that some senior official at IRCTC itself might be in touch with these people who were circumventing the system and putting millions of bona fide passengers at a disadvantage is a very grave matter," said one of the investigators.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) said that, as of Sunday, details of 4,506 tickets had been retrieved from one iMac, 45 CPUs, 10 pendrives and 11 mobile phones confiscated from the 12 arrested touts. "These tickets have a cumulative value of Rs2.08 crore. It is possibly the biggest recovery of tickets in a touting case so far in the railways," the investigator said.
Centred around a software developed by an Ahmedabad-based individual named Kulbir Singh, the scam involved a whole set of travel agents and touts using this software to surpass some of the ticket-booking procedures on the IRCTC website and book several tickets within seconds of the website opening. Railway officials probing the scam said the software allowed these touts to fill in all the requisite details the previous night itself and keep it ready for the morning when the website opens for booking.
"The software allowed the creation of multiple IP addresses, would link all these forms to various bank accounts of these touts and, at the touch of a button, book hundreds of tickets at one go. The software even allowed all the forms and ticket details to be saved in PDF format in the tout or agent's computer for future reference," said another railway official.
dna articles on the scam:
September 30 - RPF busts biggest ever ticket scam
October 1- IRCTC admits tough battle against speed software
October 2: Over 3000 tickets blocked in touting scam
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