5, including 4 MTC officials, held in fake bus pass scam

Chennai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Police on Saturday arrested five people including four MTC staff for forging fake MTC monthly bus passes ­ Travel As You Like Please Ticket ­ valued `1,000 each.

 

The issue came to light when an MTC crew recovered a fake bus pass from Koyambedu in May this year.MTC officials informed their higher ups and they ordered an internal inquiry. Twenty more fake passes were recovered in June.They then lodged a complaint with Chennai city police commissioner.

Their petition was forwarded to forgery wing of the Central Crime Branch.A police team nabbed the suspects Ramesh Babu Sriramulu, 32, who works as a contract EB staff at Nagari in Andhra Pradesh and S Krishnakumar, 41, a resident of Sembakkam. Inquiries revealed that the duo had masterminded the cheating and had been preparing the fake bus passes and selling them at various bus depots in the city.

After inquiries, police arrested three more suspects -M Jagadeesh, 34, D Prakash, 45, and D Suresh Kumar, 43. Four suspects worked as `ticket issuing officials' at various bus depots in the city. They had been forging the bus passes at Adambakkam and at at Poornimangadu near Tiruttani using a photocopier machine.
Police estimate the suspects to have sold fake tickets worth at least `10 lakh to `20 lakh every month and shared the booty .