Black money hunt: CBI raids ticket counters at Bhopal, Habibganj stations

BHOPAL: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team along with the chief vigilance officer of West Central Railway (WCR) launched a surprise check at Bhopal and Habibganj station reservation counters on Thursday.
They launched the operation after getting constant complaints against railway officials at reservation counters asking for excess amount for booking railway tickets and not returning the balance amount by taking the advantage of the Centre's demonetization drive and telling customers that shortage of change with them as the reason.
The raid was conducted between 12:35pm to 3:30pm, in the presence of chief reservation supervisors at both the railway stations. Sandeep Sharma, the chief vigilance officer of WCR was also present. At Bhopal railway station, of the five counters checked in the reservation building and general ticket booking, there were discrepancies in four reservation counters. Documents related to booking and cancellation of tickets was seized by the CBI sleuths. The declared personal and government cash available at counters 6,8,9 and 10 of Habibganj station were checked and verified. The summary of booked and cancelled tickets generated from the computers was compared with the physical private and government cash, but no discrepancy was found, said CBI officials, who were part of the raid team.
A similar drive was also conducted at Itarsi and Hoshangabad railway station reservation counters after receiving a similar complaints. Spokesperson for Bhopal rail division, I A Siddiqui said, "Checking was conducted by a CBI team along with WCR vigilance officer after getting complaints. They have taken the required documents for comparison and will submit a report to concerned authority for further action."
Indian Railways was allowed by the Centre to accept old currency notes only till November 24, but the officers on the basis of complaints, suspected that there was an organized process of converting black money into white going on under the table.