Farmers Movement Archive

Railway ticket-booking gang busted; five held with 42 mobiles, 13 ATM cards stolen from migrants

New Delhi: Police on Monday said they had busted a gang of cheats and thieves who impersonated passengers, railway employees or ticket agents and duped migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh by promising them confirmed train or bus tickets to their hometowns during the festive season. Five members of the gang, including two brothers, were arrested with 42 mobiles, 20 travel bags, 13 ATM cards and several other items – all stolen from migrants in the recent past, the police said. “A total of 27 cases of cheating and theft, all registered at four different police stations in northwest Delhi in the recent past, have been solved with the arrest of the five men, who are part of an organised syndicate named “ticket booking gang”,” said deputy commissioner of police (north-west) Vijayanta Arya. The arrests were made by the district’s special staff team following investigations into the cases registered in Mahendra Park, Adarsh Nagar, Subhash Place and Keshavpuram police stations. The arrested men were identified as Sanjay Yadav, Lal Babu Sahni, Santosh Kumar, Rakesh Mandal and his brother Rajeev Mandal. All five arrested men are themselves migrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and had come to Delhi some years ago in search of jobs. Since they were not satisfied with the wages they earned by working in factories or private companies, they collaborated to dupe other migrants returning to their home towns during various festivals, a police officer associated with the probe said, requesting anonymity. Explaining the gang’s modus operandi, the officer said that each member of the syndicate has a different role to play during any crime. One or two would position themselves at Singhu border in outer Delhi and would target migrants working in factories in Sonepat, Karnal, Rohtak and other places in Haryana but coming to Delhi to board trains or buses to their hometowns. The suspects would board buses, sharing auto-rickshaws or e-rickshaws that the victims would take to reach any interstate railway station or bus terminal in Delhi. During the journey the suspects would pose as co-passengers and claiming that their destinations were the same, the officer said. “On the way, the suspects would trick the victims into believing that they would help them get confirmed train or bus tickets through ticket booking agents or using their contacts in the railway department. They would convince them to de-board the bus or auto in the mid-way,” the officer said, adding the suspects would introduce the victims to their associates who impersonate travelling ticket examiner (TTE) or ticket booking agents. The second set of racketeers who impersonate TTE or ticket agents would trick the victims into giving them their ATM cards and secret codes on the pretext of booking their tickets. “Since the impersonators would deliberately delay their return, the first group of racketeers would steal the valuables of the victims and leave on the pretext of going and checking on the TTE or agent. The suspects would then withdraw money using the stolen ATM cards and passwords,” the officer added. On October 6, the suspects using the same modus operandi had duped a father-son duo belonging to Uttar Pradesh of over R68,000 that they withdrew after tricking them into giving them their ATM card and its password for obtaining confirmed train tickets, the police said.

Hindustan Times

12-10-2020

City