Mumbai’s railway vigilance team has uncovered a well-orchestrated scam involving illegal VIP quota ticket bookings, allegedly spearheaded by a tea vendor.

The accused, identified as Ravindra Kumar Sahu, was employed at the guard canteen in traffic accounts building at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).

“The accused had created fake stamps of railway officials. We strongly urge passengers to avoid purchasing tickets from unauthorized sources,” Dr Swapnil Neela, chief public relations officer of Central Railway, told Newsband.

He had allegedly forged signatures of senior railway officials and was using counterfeit seals to book train reservations for his clients.

The scam came to light during a surprise late-night inspection conducted by the railway vigilance team on board train for Howrah.

Acting on a tip off, the team inspected the S2 sleeper coach and found six passengers traveling under the VIP quota. While five had valid tickets, one passenger was found traveling under a bogus identity.

The passenger was fined and during questioning revealed the name of Sahu. A raid at Shahu’s workplace, led to the recovery of several forged stamps from, PNR forms, and reservation slips

Sahu later admitted to running a parallel ticketing business. He would forge signatures, fill out reservation requests, and submit them directly to the emergency quota cell.

Sahu was earning between Rs 1 to 1.5 lakh lakh monthly.