Railway ticket paper roll stolen
500 counterfeit tickets worth Rs 12 lakh can be printed using the paper roll
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, April 13, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=20090413200904130205587249afcefdf)
Next time you are in a hurry to board a train, avoid buying ticket from any stranger. It could be fake. A roll of paper, which can be used to print 500 counterfeit computerised rail tickets worth Rs 12 lakh, went missing under mysterious circumstances from a sealed carton in Ahmedabad on March 29. The railway authorities detected the theft on April 2. Suspecting involvement of a fake ticket racket in the incident, the commercial department of Ahmedabad Railway Division has lodged an FIR with Railway Protection Force. It has also instituted a departmental inquiry.
The paper rolls used to print general rail tickets are shipped to all booking offices under Western Railway from Mumbai in sealed cartons. On March 29, one such box reached the parcel office at Ahmedabad station. Usually, the commercial department officials take away the cartons containing the paper rolls immediately. But on March 29, they collected it from the parcel office around one-and-a-half hours after its arrival. Even as the carton was taken to the commercial department, it was not opened on March 29 since there was no requirement of fresh paper rolls to print tickets.
They finally opened the seal of the carton on April 2 only to find a roll missing from the box. The commercial department officials immediately informed Udayshankar Jha, the senior divisional commercial manager, about the incident. He rushed to the booking office and found that the carton was tampered with to take out the paper roll. The unscrupulous elements ripped the box to steal the roll and then wrapped it with a sack to give it a look of a sealed carton.
Around two years ago, railway officials had stumbled upon instances of some mischievous elements seeking refund against fake tickets. The railway authorities are apprehensive that the paper roll stolen on March 29 might also be misused to dupe the railways.
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, April 13, 2009 (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=20090413200904130205587249afcefdf)
Next time you are in a hurry to board a train, avoid buying ticket from any stranger. It could be fake. A roll of paper, which can be used to print 500 counterfeit computerised rail tickets worth Rs 12 lakh, went missing under mysterious circumstances from a sealed carton in Ahmedabad on March 29. The railway authorities detected the theft on April 2. Suspecting involvement of a fake ticket racket in the incident, the commercial department of Ahmedabad Railway Division has lodged an FIR with Railway Protection Force. It has also instituted a departmental inquiry.
The paper rolls used to print general rail tickets are shipped to all booking offices under Western Railway from Mumbai in sealed cartons. On March 29, one such box reached the parcel office at Ahmedabad station. Usually, the commercial department officials take away the cartons containing the paper rolls immediately. But on March 29, they collected it from the parcel office around one-and-a-half hours after its arrival. Even as the carton was taken to the commercial department, it was not opened on March 29 since there was no requirement of fresh paper rolls to print tickets.
They finally opened the seal of the carton on April 2 only to find a roll missing from the box. The commercial department officials immediately informed Udayshankar Jha, the senior divisional commercial manager, about the incident. He rushed to the booking office and found that the carton was tampered with to take out the paper roll. The unscrupulous elements ripped the box to steal the roll and then wrapped it with a sack to give it a look of a sealed carton.
Around two years ago, railway officials had stumbled upon instances of some mischievous elements seeking refund against fake tickets. The railway authorities are apprehensive that the paper roll stolen on March 29 might also be misused to dupe the railways.
