Title - Three touts arrested with tatkal tickets, cash

PUNE: Despite stricter norms in place for tatkal railway reservations, touts and agents are active not just in cities but also in small towns.The railway protection force (RPF) on Tuesday arrested three people at Miraj and Kirloskarwadi railway stations near Sangli. Tatkal tickets valued at Rs 20,315 from cash of Rs 43,750 were seized from them.The suspects have been identified as Zameer Shaukat Atar (20), Bajarang Shreepati Hawal (36), both residents of Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur and Prakash Maruti Patil (36) of Sangli.The RPF's Pune division has launched a special drive against touts at the railway stations in its jurisdiction. During the drive the crime intelligence branch of the RPF received a tip-off about touts operating at Miraj and Kirloskarwadi railway stations. The RPF team raided the reservation centres at the two places and arrested them. Two of the three were arrested from Miraj railway station while one was arrested from Kirloskarwadi.The RPF team was led by assistant security commissioner, Pune, Vinod Kumar. Inspector Praveen Kasbe, constables Prakash Sharma, Prakash Pise and Amit Pujari were part of the team.