Catering to a nation with population exceeding 1.3 billion, the passenger transport of Indian Railways faces very high demand of seats and berths. The demand supply gap has widened over the years despite capacity augmentation by Indian Railways. This demand supply gap has led to mushrooming of many touts who use different means to corner reserved seats and then sell them to the needy on premium. Use of illegal software for cornering confirmed railway reservations online had adversely affected the availability of confirmed tickets to the common man. RPF has been undertaking intensive and sustained action in a mission mode under code name “Operation Uplabdh” against persons involved in touting (unauthorized carrying on of business of procuring & supply of railway tickets).
Recently on the basis of pinpointed digital input supplemented by Human Intelligence, an RPF team succeeded in nabbing Mannan Vaghela (Travel Agent) of Rajkot on 8 May, who was using illegal software i.e. COVID-19 to corner railway tickets in bulk. Further, another person named Kanhaiya Giri was arrested on 17 July from Mumbai on the basis of information provided by Vaghela. During interrogation, Giri spilled the beans and revealed the names of other associates and Admin/Developer Abhishekh Sharma of Vapi, who was also arrested on 20 July.