Touts selling railway tickets held

CHENNAI: Three youngsters, who were eking out a living selling train tickets procured illegally from the Computerised Passenger Reservation System centres in Chennai, were nabbed by the sleuths of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Wednesday.They were picked up for possessing reserved railway tickets near the entrance of the computerised reservation office in Egmore and later remanded to judicial custody for 15 days.Operating as independent touts, the trio — P Satheesh Kumar, R Thavith Kumar and M Ranjit Kumar — were earning a monthly income of anywhere between `18,000 and `20,000 with their ‘services’ being availed of by individual travellers, hotels and even a few authorised travel agents of the Southern Railway.According to sources, the accused reserved train tickets in false names and age group well in advance of the journey date. “In an attempt to evade the attention of the security personnel posted at the reservation counters, they change the centre between Egmore, MMC, Mambalam and Tambaram every day,” a RPF official told City Express. “They sell tickets to the desperate commuters based on their age group at a much higher rate. In some cases, these touts are approached by individuals over mobile phone for booking Taktal tickets,” the official added.After receiving requisition from the travellers for Taktal tickets, the touts camp near the premises of the reservation centres from 11pm, the previous night. The touts do so in order to be first person to enter the counter for booking ticket the next day. Service charge of not less then `100 per ticket was being charged from the customers for the purpose.Pushed to poverty, the accused, who had earlier worked in hotels, took to this trade about a year ago. “All the three in their early 20s are school pass outs belonging to Thousand Lights and Chinthadiripet areas. Having gained a little experience in booking train tickets for the guest during their early stint in hotel, the youth chose to take it up as their full-time career.” RPF sources claimed.Police also seized three mobile phones, used for communicating with the customers, from the accused.