The CBI on Wednesday arrested its own Assistant software programmer and another person for developing an illegal railway ticketing software that could book “tatkal” tickets through IRCTC website.
The CBI also conducted raids at 14 places across the country, including Delhi, Mumbai and Jaunpur, and seized Rs 89 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 69 lakh. Taking note of fraud, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has ordered an enquiry into the matter.
The software developer has been identified as Ajay Garg. He connived with one Anit Gupta to use the software for duping the tatkal booking system run by the IRCTC and booked tickets in bulk. He also sold the software to other persons for similar misuse.
According to CBI, a post-graduate in computer applications, Garg had worked with IRCTC for four years between 2007 and 2011, where he learnt the vulnerabilities of the railway ticketing. CBI sources said that 10 of Garg’s agents — seven in Jaunpur and three in Mumbai — have also been identified.
During the raids, Rs 89.42 lakh cash, Rs 61.29 lakhs jewellery, 2 gold bars of one kg each, 15 laptops, 15 hard disks, 52 mobile phones, 24 SIMs, 10 Notebooks, 06 Routers; 04 dongles; 19 pen drives have been seized. The illegal trade was carried out through Bitcoins and Hawala networks. Proxy servers were used by Garg to use the software to book the tickets. Anil Gupta had made a fortune for himself from this illegal business and had two houses in Mumbai and two in Jaunpur.
The CBI has also alleged that Garg and Gupta were receiving money from the dealers for the use of the software through Bitcoins and hawala network.