Hoax call made to claim `3K
The Mumbai crime branch has arrested a travel agent for making a hoax call with the intention of delaying a train so that he could claim a refund of two unsold tickets worth `3,000.
Rameshchandra Chau-rasia (39), owner of Worli-based Chaurasia Tours and Travels agency, was arrested on Thursday by unit-8 of the crime branch from the Worli area.
According to the police, on February 25 at around 8 am, the Mumbai railway police control room received a call from a cellphone and the caller said that a bomb had been placed in the Parcel Office at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station. Since the twin blasts in Hyderabad had taken place only four days before, the police did not take any chances and launched a massive search at CST. The police, with the help of sniffer dogs and bomb squad officials, also searched some stationary trains, including the Pushpak Express. The checking delayed trains by two-three hours. After ascertaining that it was a hoax call, an offence was registered at CST railway police station against an unknown person under Sections 182, 505 and 507 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Unit-12 team, comprising police inspectors Deepak Phatangare, Jyotsana Rasam, Raju Kasabe, assistant PI Sanjay More, Mahadev Nimbalkar, initiated a parallel investigation in the case. Investigators obtained details of the Sim card that was used to make the phone call to the control room and learnt that it was registered on an address in Utttar Pradesh.
During the probe, investigators got to know that the tower location of the said Sim number was found to be of Mumbai on February 25. The police then obtained call details of the number. On Thursday, the police received information that the accused would be coming to E. Moses Road in Worli. A police team then apprehended the accused at around 1 pm on Thursday, who was later identified as Chaurasia.
“During interrogation Chaurasia revealed that he had bought some tickets in bulk of the Pushpak Express for February 25 and had managed to sell all, but two remained unsold. As per Railway norms, if a train is delayed for three hours or more, ticket holders can claim and get a full refund on their tickets. Chaurasia hoped to delay the train for three hours after which he could claim a refund on the two unsold tickets,” said additional commissioner of police Niket Kaushik, crime branch. Chaurasia had bought the tickets for `1,500 each, and made the calls to save `3,000.
“To avoid arrest, Chaurasia used the Sim card he had found on a train a month ago. He kept the Sim with him and used it to make the hoax call. He did not use the Sim again,” said inspector Deepak Phatangare, adding that Chaurasia would be produced in court on Friday.
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