Southern Railway: Conman dons TTE role, cheats passengers

A conman posing as a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) allegedly went around checking passengers on unreserved trains and imposed penalties on those found travelling without tickets in Southern Railway.

According to official sources, the suspect was checking passengers on Train No. 20691 Tambaram-Nagercoil Antyodaya Superfast Express on Tuesday when a TTE of Madurai Division, who was on duty on the same train, noticed something unusual in the way he was checking the passengers.

Suspecting foul play, she inquired about his identity and nature of work. She grew more suspicious on seeing him wear a Southern Railway tag without an identity card and a metal badge mentioning his designation as Deputy Ticket Checking Inspector, Madurai Division.

Since she also belonged to the same division and had not seen him before, the TTE asked him why he, being a senior ticket checking staff usually deployed in Sleeper Class or AC coaches, was working on unreserved trains. The suspect identified himself as S. Manikandan of Madurai. He claimed that he joined Southern Railway as a locopilot in 2019, and could not perform his duties after a surgery. He was transferred to the Commercial Department and designated as a Deputy Ticket Checking Inspector, he claimed.

Though he was imposing fines and issuing penalty slips, Manikandan was not in possession of the Extra Fare Ticket book. He was imposing the penalty on reservation forms by writing the name and other details of the passengers. “We have heard enough about this conman. Many vendors have complained to me that this man is often seen on trains on the Villupuram-Nagercoil route, demanding free coffee and snacks from them. I also saw many passengers showing reservation forms with payment details and berths allotted in Sleeper Class coaches of other trains,” the TTE told The Hindu.

On receiving information, the Railway Protection Force personnel who were travelling on the train detained the suspect for an inquiry. The metal badge, Aadhaar Card, Southern Railway tag and other items were seized from him, the sources added.