Mumbai, May 6: The Indian Railways nabbed a kingpin of a massive racket concerning booking of Tatkal train tickets through IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) website. Salman was taken into custody by the Railway Protection Force. Salman was running the racket and had a network of 5400 touts for the purpose.

According to sources, Salman is expected to reveal many other rackets regarding the booking of train tickets. Salman has revealed that he used a software worth just Rs 700. The software managed to dodge the IRCTC server and book tickets in a hurry, reported Zeenews.

According to a Central Railways press note, a few unauthorised software were operating in case of e-tickets which allowed unauthorised agents to bypass normal queues and seek confirmed reservation through illegal means. The CR has begun a crackdown on touts as part of a drive to ensure that passengers tickets easily. It has seized tickets worth Rs 1.47 crore. The number of passengers increases during summers because of the vacations in schools and colleges.

Sunil Udasi, chief public relations officer, CR, told Asian Age, “A malicious software was being used for this purpose and its main operator could be located through source information. There was vigorous surveillance, and further information in this regard was collected, verified, and the person behind the software was identified. Joint action was planned by vigilance, RPF, IRCTC and Mumbai division's commercial branch to nab the operator.” The kingpin was nabbed with his laptop and 80 e-tickets from his software server.

Before the opening of tatkal ticket booking at 10 am on IRCTC.co.in, all details of the passengers were already filled in the counter software. Exactly when the booking began, the data used to be transferred automatically from the software to IRCTC website with all the required details.

Using this software tickets were booked even before counter-bookings across India. According to officials, the software, reportedly designed by Salman himself, functions just like IRCTC website, but takes all details beforehand, reported Zeenews. Within one month, the software was downloaded in as many as 2500 computers. Salman used to charge Rs 700 for each download. A case was registered against him under section 143 of the Railways Act at Byculla RPF.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2018 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).