MUMBAI, DECEMBER 24: Western Railways drive against unauthorised Railway Travel who have been cheating the unsuspecting public and charging hefty premium from them,is picking up momentum. On Thursday, a major raid was conducted on one such travel agent, M/s Punjabi Traders, situated just outside Mumbai CST station yesterday. The owner of M/s Punjabi Traders, Mr Raj Sahani was conducting this illegal business in the guise of a Shipping Service Company. He was under vigilance for the last few days.On December 20, Ity Pandey, ACM (R) Mumbai Central, made a false booking of one ticket for 2903 DN (Golden Temple Mail) from M/s Punjabi Traders. The delivery of the ticket was promised for next day. Zahid Qureshi was sent to get the delivery of the ticket while Ity Pandey alongwith Johnson and Adrian Mathias kept watch from a distance. A four-men police raiding party from Matha Ramabai Amedkar Marg Police Station also remained in hiding and kept a discreet watch over this transaction.On getting a signal from Qureshi, the officers immediately surrounded the place and arrested four staffers of the agency, viz Shri Kishore Trivedi Singh, Damodar Ganesh Murugesh, Metiul Jiwantilal Parekh and Laxmandas Mangaldas alongwith the ticket. 117 reserved journey tickets for various trains were seized during the raid, worth Rs 1.09 lakh. Three cancellation tickets worth Rs 3,856 were also seized. Besides this, cash amounting to Rs 23,925 was also found during the raid alongwith the many filled requisition forms, blank requisition forms and order receipt books. All these tickets and documents have been seized by the police. A case under Section 143 of Railways Act, 1989 has been registered against the agency. Maximum punishment under this Section extends to three year imprisonment or a fine of Rs 10,000 or both.
