DIMAPUR — The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), in operations conducted between December 17 and 20, apprehended four ticket touts and recovered 32 railway tickets worth over INR 1 lakh.
According to an official statement, in the latest case on December 20, a joint team of RPF New Jalpaiguri and Siliguri Junction caught one Bivash Sarkar from the passenger reservation counter at Siliguri Town. He was found to be in possession of a railway ticket worth INR 1,380, which was confiscated. He has been booked under Section 143 of the Railways Act.
Similarly, on December 19, RPF personnel from Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, and Cyber Cell Tinsukia conducted checks at a shop in Tinsukia and nabbed one Sandeep Maurya with 15 tickets valued at around INR 22,460. A separate case has been registered against him.
In two incidents on December 17, RPF teams from New Jalpaiguri and Kishanganj caught one Noor Mohd with six tickets worth INR 18,375 from Kishanganj. On the same day, RPF Alipurduar and CPDS Alipurduar apprehended one Kamal Roy from Sonapur Chowpatty in Alipurduar with 10 tickets amounting to INR 65,789. Both touts have been charged for the crime.
According to RPF sources, a total of 98 cases have been registered against ticket touting from January 1 to December 20 this year and a total of 104 people have been caught.
Railway tickets worth over INR 16.81 lakh have been seized during this period.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, the NFR has informed that, in a bid to clear the extra rush of passengers during the winter season, it has decided to run a special train between Kolkata and New Coochbehar for a single trip in both directions.
The special train No. 03141 from Kolkata to New Coochbehar will depart from Kolkata at 11:40 pm on December 22 (Friday) and reach New Coochbehar at 12:30 pm on December 23 (Saturday). In the return direction, special train No. 03142 from New Coochbehar to Kolkata will depart from New Coochbehar at 5 am on December 24 (Sunday) and reach Kolkata at 10:40 pm on the same day.
