Nationwide crackdown under the name ‘Operation Thunder’ was conducted against illegal e-ticketing and touting activities by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) on Thursday. The RPF of the East Coast Railway (ECoR) led by IG and Principal Chief Security Commissioner Raja Ram conducted surprise raids at more than 20 places across Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. A total of 19 cases were registered against equal number of illegal e-ticketing agents/touts. They were all arrested.
About 728 numbers of railway e-tickets valued about Rs 15,21,670 were seized. Besides, hard cash, modems, computers and other accessories worth over Rs 5 lakh were also seized. In Odisha, raids were conducted at Bhubaneswar, Puri, Cuttack, Bhadrak, Brahmapur, Kantabanji and Rayagada.
The Railways is committed to take strong and sustained action against touting elements, said an official release.