BENGALURU: Ten migrant workers who reached Bengaluru by the Guwahati Express from Assam, were caught travelling on a forged military warrant on October 8. The workers had boarded the train at New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.The warrant is a pass issued by the Ministry of Defence for its personnel, permitting them to travel on a zero-rupee ticket on Indian Railways. The fact that the military warrant was forged, which is a serious offence, came to the light only on Tuesday.
A senior railway official told The New Indian Express, “Following a tip-off that passengers were travelling on S5 coach with forged documents, the Traffic Accounts Section and Railway Protection Force (RPF) raided the compartment as soon as it touched Cantonment around 9.30 pm. The group, aged between 35 and 50 years, conceded that they had identity documents, like Aadhaar, which were not their own.”
“They were initially booked under The Railways Act, Sections 137 and 138. Each person was fined Rs 1,750. We collected their contact details and let them go,” the official said.The RPF had issued summons to them to appear on Monday. “Further interrogation revealed that the military warrant was forged. They had paid Rs 10,000 to a person in their village in New Jalpaiguri, who had forged the warrant for them. The warrant can be given at any railway ticketing counter to get tickets without payment,” an official explained.
The men claimed they were on their first visit to Bengaluru and were in search of work. “The Alipurduar Railway Division was alerted about the fraud, so the person issuing false warrants could be nabbed,” the official added.