Tatanagar railway police on Saturday sent a 50-year-old cyber-café owner and ticket broker to jail for selling train e-tickets illegally.
The cops arrested him from his office in Bhalubasa under Sitaramdera police station area on Friday.
During the raid at the cyber cafe, a team of Railway Protection Force seized nine e-tickets, a laptop and a smartphone from Alok Bharti.
RPF inspector M.K. Sahoo said Bharti used to make e-tickets with his personal ID, and not the customer’s, and sell them at a premium.
Legally, an e-ticket is made in the customer’s name and charges for the service are nominal.
“Getting e-tickets for customers by using one’s personal ID is illegal,” RPF inspector Sahoo said. “As this is the period of winter vacations, many people want reserved tickets. In this rush, the chances of obtaining a reserved ticket is very, very, difficult,” he said, adding this helped Bharti’s illegal trade as a ticket agent. “People are ready to pay any sum for tickets and approach brokers like Bharti.”
Sahoo said they forwarded Bharti to the court of railway magistrate in Chakradharpur. “The court of railway magistrate will decide whether to send Bharti to Chaibasa divisional jail or Ghaghidih Central Jail in Jamshedpur,” he said.
