Four days after he committed the offence of travelling under incorrect particulars in a train to Mumbai from New Delhi, Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Ravindra Gaikwad once again gave his age as 99 years as he travelled by a train from Mumbai to New Delhi. The MP was forced to take a train journey after Air India cancelled his “open tickets” to New Delhi on Tuesday.
Gaikwad had on last Thursday beaten an Air India staffer with a sandal after which he was blacklisted by the AI and several other airlines. The MP had an open ticket booked before the fracas. He first tried to take the Mumbai-Delhi flight for Wednesday by booking a seat through a call centre. However, AI did not allow him to fly and cancelled his ticket after the authorities got to know about it. The MP then tried to take the Mumbai-Hyderabad-Delhi route which too was blocked by the national carrier.
left without any option the MP then took a train 12951 Rajdhani from Mumbai to New Delhi on Tuesday by giving wrong information about his age to the Indian Railways while booking the tickets. The MP who is 57- years-old tried to hoodwink the Railways by giving his and his co-passengers’ ages as 99 years.
The MP had on Sunday too used the same trick and travelled as a 99-year-old and even showed his wife and companion a year less than 100. Obviously, the Travel Ticket Examiner of the August Kranti Rajdhani Express did not dare to question his age during the 16-hour journey between Delhi and Mumbai. Possibly emboldened by this, the MP played the same trick again.
Interestingly, the Indian Railways has decided to keep quiet and let the MP pass.