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" The Inspection Section is the detective arm of Traffic Accounts. Its primary function is to investigate into possible frauds and ensure that these are not repeated in future. Here are some frauds detected by TIAs of Central Railway. Moral of these frauds : If the perpetrators of frauds were smart, the fraud-busters (TIAs & SOs) were smarter ! Frauds 1 to 5 were detected in 2001-02, while the balance pertain to earlier periods. (1) ARTS/Nasik Road Reported by Shri S.A. Masand & team of TIAs, CSTM A team of TIAs, during their special check at ARTS/NKRD location, detected following frauds committed by Booking Clerks. Modus operandi adopted are as under :- (i) Booking Clerk issued one lower value ticket but manipulated the printer in such a way that the output will be printed in one line in which the stock number lies and virtually the stock number cannot be seen further. Subsequently, a higher value ticket is issued and handed over to the passenger but made non-issued in the System and attached to the lower value ticket, kept with him to show it as Non-Issued Ticket. The B.C. pocketed the difference amount between lower and higher value tickets. TIA has raised the debit of Rs.4185/- in January'02 balance-sheet and the same is admitted by CBS/NkRD. From the ticket, following points were noticed. (a) When the printer stuck up on journey ticket how could Alpha Code appear on Non- Issued ticket ? (b) Ticket stationary is a continuous roll and if two adjacent tickets are detached, they must align when put together. In this case, it was observed that both the tickets , when put together, are not in alignment. (ii) Booking Clerk mismatched the ticket numbers (Stock No. & System No.) by skipping one transaction to get one CPT blank and made good the short remittance of lower value ticket. He has issued higher value ticket on the saved stock and handed over to passenger but made Non-Issued the transaction taken place and again skip the transaction and saved stationary attached to the subsequent stationery to show the Non-Issued tickets. TIA has enforced a debit of Rs.18,733/- in January'02 balance-sheet and has been admitted by CBS/NKRD. Further investigation is going on and expected losses are around Rs.2 lakhs. Preventive Measures The existing procedure of rectifying the mis-match duly entered in the register kept for the purpose in presence of the Shift Supervisor and countersigned by him should be strictly adhered to. Ticket collection should be intensified particularly Card Tickets, PRS, ARTS and Special Paper Tickets (BPTs & EFTs). (2) PRS/CSTM :- Reported by Shri Naveen Malhotra, CSTM A case of fraud in the refund of BPT by ECRC/CSTM has been detected by TIA/CSTM during the course of routine check of manual refund. Modus operandi is as under :- ECRC prepared BPT for higher amount in the Passenger foil but showed lower amount in the Accounts & Record foils. Subsequently, he refunded the higher amount against the passenger foil. TIA has detected a loss of Rs.49,046/- to the Railway revenue on this transaction. The same will be enforced in the on-hand balance-sheet. Preventive Measures There is a system of concurrent checking of the Refunded tickets. It should be strengthened and should be made effective. Transactions beyond the prescribed monetary limits should be checked and countersigned by the Shift Supervisor. The monetary limits may be fixed as under :- Upto Rs.1000/- : ECRC, From Rs.1001/- to Rs.5000/- : Supervisor, From Rs.5001/- to Rs.10,000/- : CRI/CBS and Beyond Rs.10,001/- : ACM. On the closing of the shift/day, supervisor should verify the ticket refunded and the details thereon on a random basis. In the internal check Section, verification of collected manual tickets should be intensified. (3) BPT/Harsud :- Reported by Ms. Richa Athawale, SO(BPT) & staff :- During the course of internal check on BPT, two serious fraud cases have been detected, involving financial loss to Railways. Modus operandi adopted in this case is as under :- Passenger foils were prepared for longer distance and higher value ticket but Accounts foil shows shorter distance of nominal amount and pocketed the difference amount of Rs.390/- for 2 cases. The matter has been reported to concerned Sr.DCMs, CCM/C.Rly. & SDGM. Preventive Measures Ticket checking in the running train by the TTEs with or without Special team and confiscation of doubtful paper tickets by issuing EFTs etc.Ticket collection at the gate (Exit) by Station Ticket Checking staff i.e. TCs In the internal check Section, verification of collected manual tickets should be intensified. Training to the Ticket checking should be organised for ARTS and SPTM tickets. (4)During the check of refund statement of ARTS (Unreserved) tickets at Dadar, Shri S.K.Masand, TIA/CSTM noticed 27 cases of mis-appropriation amounting to Rs.5889/- in Sept'01. Booking Clerk deliberately mis-matched the ticket system number and journey ticket pre-printed number while printing the journey ticket. In subsequent transactions, he skipped one CPT ticket blank to tally the system number with CPT number and non-issued the earlier transaction. The journey ticket printed earlier was sold to the passenger and submitted the CPT ticket left blank along with non- issued ticket instead of proper journey ticket printed earlier. He pocketed the amount of fare for last ticket sold. Debit raised by TIA has been admitted by CBS/DR. Matter has been reported to Sr.DCM/Mumbai CST. (5) During Special check of train No.2028 UP (Shatabdi Express PA-CSTM), Shri D.S.Khemchandani, Sr.TIA/PA detected two passengers claiming the same seat in Executive class on 10/10/2001. On further investigation, it was revealed that one of the tickets was non issued by ECRC/CSTM immediately after generating the ticket on 29/09/2001 and pocketing the amount of the ticket (Rs.720/-). The seat No.35 so released got booked again in the System for the second passenger. Matter has been reported to CCM, SDGM & DRM/BB for taking strict disciplinary action against ECRC/CSTM and concerned supervisor. (6) A case of non-compliance of extant instructions for granting Train Load benefit was detected by Shri Manmohan Kumar, Sr.TIA/BVH valuing Rs.3,80,465/- in May'01 at BPCL/Asoti Siding. Train load benefit was granted by station staff for loading 29 BPTGLN wagons as against minimum 30 wagons in Nov'00 without passing any qualifying remarks on the RRs for loading less wagons. The debit has been admitted and Sr.DCM/Jhansi has been advised to clear the debits. (7) Fraudulent mis-appropriation of Railway revenue for Rs.16,301/- in Dec'00 was detected by Shri R.B.Yadav, Sr.TIA/Katni during inspection of Katni Cement Siding (KTSG). TIA noticed that on 3 occasions CNC/KTSG remitted less amount than amount collected towards freight thereby mis-appropriating Rs.16,301/-. Matter has been reported to Sr.DCM/Jabalpur for taking disciplinary action against CNC/KTSG. (8)A case of serious fraud of obtaining refund against bogus computerised printed ticket was detected by S/Shri H.P.Sharma, V.C.Sharma and their team of TIAs at Mumbai C.S.T. valuing Rs.1.77 lakhs (July'96). Details of a genuine journey-cum-reservation ticket were found to have been copied on blank PRS ticket and used for obtaining refund, whereas journey was actually undertaken by passenger on the journey ticket. The original pre-printed ticket number on the blank PRS ticket was erased and ticket number of the concerned genuine journey ticket copied in its place along with other details. Since the size of the letter and alignment of the ticket number so copied appeared to be different. TIA's team got suspicious and investigated the case in detail which led to unearthing of this fraud. The TIAs were suitably rewarded. (9) A case of irregular booking of machinery to outside party on RMC Note was detected by Shri Kamal Sinha, Sr.TIA(RF)/JHS in March'01 leading to less collection of freight by Rs.1,33,380/-. EMU(Diesel)/JHS booked a repaired diesel engine owned by UPSEB/Paricha under RMC Note against extant instructions as per which both consignor and consignee should be railway officials. TIA detected this irregularity and raised debit towards less collection of freight and paid haulage charges for use of Railway cranes. The debit has been admitted. Matter has been reported to Sr.DCM/Jhansi for clearance of debit. (10) case of obtaining refund by way of special cancellation of journey ticket after departure of train by ECRC at Mumbai C.S.T., valuing Rs.35,036/- was detected by Shri N.Malhotra, TIA/CSTM in August,2000. The TIA detected this fraud during Concurrent Check of cancelled tickets since the journey and the special cancelled tickets were not submitted by station staff for verification to Concurrent Check Cell and also no entry was made in register maintained for the special cancelled tickets. TIA verified the amended chart of 2133 DN (Pushpak Express) and proved that journey was actually performed by passenger on the ticket against which refund was obtained by ECRC. During investigation, CRS/CSTM admitted that he was not exercising prescribed checks on special cancelled tickets which he was supposed to do. Matter has been reported to CCM and DRM/BB for taking necessary disciplinary action against Commercial staff. (11)Cash earned during the day at the stations are to be remitted to the bank the same day by the station staff. The particulars of the same are to be entered in the Daily Transaction of Cash Book (DTC). While the Malkapur station diligently showed the remittance in the DTC book, significant amounts were withdrawn at the time of actual remittance, on the grounds that these would be required for granting refunds of deposits on perishable parcels. The equivalent refund vouchers were not available and it was revealed that most of the withdrawals done were for personal use of the staff. Some refund vouchers that were produced by the staff at the time of investigation were found to be fake and fictitious. Further the commencing and the closing numbers of the Passenger Classification were fudged and did not tally with those in the DTC book as the intention was to adjust the fraudulent withdrawn cash. Estimated misappropriation in the entire operation – Rs 10 lakhs. BACK to the Main Page