Over 2000 arrested in Central Railway ticket fraud crackdown since 2022
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) registered 1,676 cases of unauthorised railway ticket sales and arrested over 2,000 individuals on the Central Railway network between January 2022 and June 2026. The operations, which targeted the illegal sale of tickets, spanned multiple locations including Mumbai, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, and Ambernath, leading to the seizure of tickets worth more than Rs 10.5 crore.
The details of the extensive crackdowns were officially revealed in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by activist Anil Galgali. The RPF data showed that the seized travel documents included journey-cum-reservation (JCR) tickets valued at Rs 88.4 lakh and e-tickets worth a staggering Rs 9.62 crore.
According to the information provided by the RPF, the highest volume of unauthorised ticket sale cases was registered in the year 2024, which saw 502 cases. Over the entire five-year period, a total of 1,641 touts and 410 agents were arrested. However, the official data indicated that no agents had been arrested in the year 2026 up to June.
The arrests also extended to internal railway staff. Seven railway employees were arrested in separate incidents between January 2022 and mid-2026 for their involvement in the unauthorised sales of tickets.
Among the arrested railway staff were a reservation clerk and a senior commercial clerk from Pandharpur, a staffer from Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, a staffer from Ambernath, and a senior booking clerk from Kamaleshwar in Nagpur.
Furthermore, the RPF response confirmed that one railway employee from Hotgi in Solapur has already been convicted in connection with these offences.
The total value of the seized tickets, combining both physical JCR tickets and electronic tickets, amounted to approximately Rs 10.5 crore. Activist Anil Galgali's RTI plea has brought these figures to light, detailing the scale of the RPF's actions against unauthorised ticketing agents, touts, and complicit railway employees.
