5 railway e-ticket touts arrested during Operatipon Thunder

Five people have been arrested on the charge of railway ticket-touting and 128 e-tickets valued at Rs 1.30 lakh seized from them, the Salem railway division said Friday.

Three of the arrests were made in Coimbatore and one each in Erode and Salem during a special drive called 'Operation Thunder' Thursday, as was directed by the divisional railway manager U Subba Rao, a press release from Salem railway division said.

To ensure fairness and curb touts, the special drive was conducted throughout Indian Railways with the help of the commercial and vigilance department, it said.

Eight special teams of RPF had been formed and they conducted raids against 30 personnel user IDs suspected to have been used in procuring and selling of e-tickets unauthorisedly through IRCTC ticketing portal, it said.

Such e-tickets were sold at a premium with Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 extra per ticket, the release added.

During summer holidays, a large number of passengers travel by trains, thereby the demand for reserved accommodation on trains increases and the touting agents cash in on this demand, the release said.