Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad division of Western Railway has busted a fake railway ticket racket during a routine checking drive, exposing a well-organised operation in which photocopied tickets were sold as genuine.

The fraud came to light when a long-distance express train from Prayagraj arrived in Ahmedabad and ticket-checking staff found passengers carrying suspicious tickets. Verification revealed two passengers with tickets having the same serial number. QR code scanning and technical checks confirmed the tickets were duplicates.

Further scrutiny showed that at least 15 passengers had travelled using similar fake tickets, prompting railway authorities to issue an alert and launch a multi-department investigation.

Officials said the racket was linked to persons associated with automatic ticket vending machine (ATVM) facilitation in Prayagraj. Genuine tickets were allegedly generated first, then scanned using high-end equipment and editing software to create multiple copies. The original tickets were later returned for refunds, while photocopies were sold to passengers at full price.

Railway authorities have registered cases of cheating and endangering passenger safety. Officials said monitoring of ATVM operations will be tightened and coordination between railway divisions strengthened to prevent such frauds. DeshGujarat