The Railway Protection Force of Western railway (WR) seized a total of 5547 tickets from touts worth about Rs 87.55 lakh.
During the period July-September 2020, 315 persons were arrested in 298 cases during special drives.
In the year ago period ( July-Sep 2019),2099 tickets worth about Rs 50.16 lakh were seized with 171 arrested in 146 cases.
It was observed during Special drives that touts used Real Mango software for illegal ticketing.
It was found that Illegal booking of tickets were made using several fake IDs, including some authorized IRCTC agents who used fake IDs, and illegal software such as Real Mango, charging extra money from innocent passengers.
WR has been regularly alerting passengers against the various modus operandi of touts through several media such as public address system, stickers /posters, distributing of pamphlets in trains and premises.
WR has also been organising awareness campaigns to educate passengers regarding the legal provisions of section 143 of Railways Act and the consequences of buying tickets/ e-tickets from touts.