A covert ticket black-marketing racket exploiting India’s urgent Tatkal railway booking system has been busted at Lucknow airport, revealing a pan-India syndicate using air cargo to deliver overpriced train tickets from the South to North India. Arrests at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport mark the tip of what officials call a deeply entrenched parallel market in urgent train travel.
From Air Cargo to Black Market: How the Tatkal Racket Was Run
In a sting operation at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) crime branch dismantled a sophisticated black-market syndicate that manipulated India’s urgent railway booking system, Tatkal. The operation led to the arrest of two suspects near the airport’s parcel office, Mohammad Kaif and Gaurav alias Prince, both residents of Sanjay Nagar, Lucknow.
The accused were found with one genuine Tatkal railway ticket and 19 high-quality photocopies of pre-booked tickets from various South Indian cities. Investigators say the gang bulk-ordered Tatkal tickets, meant for last-minute travellers, from agents in cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. The tickets were airlifted via cargo to Lucknow, where they were sold at inflated prices, often to desperate travellers unaware of the illegal source.
This marks a rare case of domestic air cargo being used to expedite illicit ticket supply, a tactic that allowed the gang to bypass local ticket quotas and exploit regional demand dynamics.
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A Web of Middlemen, Agents, and Airport Loopholes
The bust has exposed an extensive network of middlemen, airport staff, travel agents, and possibly railway insiders. According to the RPF, the gang worked closely with cargo handlers and used quick air transfers to avoid detection during railway ticket inspections.
Named in the wider investigation are Mumbai-based travel agents Manish Kandar and Mayur Ganesh, suspected of coordinating large-scale bookings from the South. Another suspect, Mohammad Shabaan, also from Lucknow, is under surveillance. Investigators are also probing cargo department employees and ticketing agents in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The syndicate allegedly sold the tickets at rates two to four times the original price, especially during high-demand periods like holidays, festivals, or exam seasons.
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Systemic Loopholes in India’s Tatkal Booking Framework
The Tatkal system, designed to help travellers make last-minute bookings, opens just 24 hours before a train’s departure and often sells out within minutes. This urgency creates fertile ground for black-market manipulation. Experts warn that the current booking ecosystem lacks adequate checks to detect bulk reservations through syndicates. Despite using CAPTCHA, Aadhaar linkage, and OTP verification, coordinated efforts by travel agents and software tools still manage to flood the booking system.
With the new revelations, the RPF is considering recommending policy changes, including real-time tracking of high-volume bookings and more secure protocols for ticket verification. Railway authorities have acknowledged the growing sophistication of such rackets and are expected to conduct internal audits of regional IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) data to identify unusual booking patterns linked to this network.
About the author – Prakriti Jha is a student at National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, currently pursuing B.Sc. LL.B (Hons.) with a keen interest in the intersection of law and data science. She is passionate about exploring how legal frameworks adapt to the evolving challenges of technology and justice.