An alert railway employee onboard the Tipu Express apprehended a fake TTE who was moving about in the train in a suspicious manner with a walkie-talkie and a fake railway tag.
The incident took place at the Mysuru railway station on Thursday and the miscreant identified as Mallesh, a resident of Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagaram district, had boarded the train prior to its departure.
According to the railway authorities, Mr. Chetan, Deputy Chief Ticket Examiner of Train No. 12613 Mysuru – Bengaluru Tipu Express superfast train along with AC mechanic Mr. Ravi noticed a person, partially clad in uniform, moving suspiciously in the train.
He was wearing what turned out to be a fake railway tag and was also carrying a walkie talkie with him. On enquiring about his whereabouts and identity they found something to be fishy and immediately alerted the railway staff who nabbed him and handed him over to the authorities at the Mysuru station.
During the enquiry it was established that he was an habitual offender and use to pose himself as TTE and target passengers travelling by long distance train and operated mainly when the train was running over Bengaluru – Hubballi and Bengaluru – Dharmavaram sections.
Sources said that the accused was a former bed roll supplier who knew the routines of the TTEs. He used to identify vacant berths in certain coaches at night and ‘’allot’’ them to passengers and collect the ‘’fee’’.
He has also admitted to illegally penalising passengers and collected money from them. The accused was later handed over to the Government Railway Police and further investigation is underway and to ascertain whether he was operating alone or was part of a larger network.
Mr. Manjunath Kanamadi, Senior Divisional Commercial Manager has appealed to the passengers and public to report any such suspicious practice on board or at Railway premises to the Railway administration on helpline or complaint numbers 139 or 182.
