'Tout' who booked rly tickets using "malicious" software held

The Central Railway authorities have arrested a tout who allegedly booked tickets using an illegal software.

At least 6,603 PNRs (Passenger Name Record numbers, which are generated after a ticket is booked) with tickets worth Rs 1.47 crore had been booked by using this fraudulent software, they said.

The Railway Protection Force, Vigilance Department of the Railways and the Commercial Branch of the CR's Mumbai Division had noticed during their drive against touts that unauthorised agents were using "malicious softwares" to jump the queue and get confirmed reservations, said Sunil Udasi, chief spokesperson, Central Railway.

The "kingpin of the racket", who operated from suburban Oshiwara, was arrested on May 2, he said, while not revealing the accused's name as further probe is on.

The officials seized his laptop, and 80 E-tickets amounting Rs 1.04 lakh were recovered from its server. A case was registered against him at Byculla RPF station, Udasi said.

Further probe found that as many as 6,603 PNRs worth Rs 1.47 crore had been booked using the illegal software, Udasi said.

These e-tickets will be invalid, and the concerned passengers' names won't appear in reservation charts, he said.

The spokesperson appealed passengers not to buy tickets from unauthorised sources.