Agra: A 40-year-old man, once employed as a bottled water vendor on trains, was arrested at Aligarh railway station on Saturday evening for allegedly posing as a travelling ticket examiner (TTE) and swindling large sums of money from unsuspecting passengers without valid tickets.

Devendra Kumar, originally from Saharanpur and residing in Ghaziabad, had reportedly donned the full attire of a railway TTE — complete with black coat and trousers — as he moved through coaches of the Gomti Express, inspecting tickets. Railway officials discovered multiple tickets in his possession, which he had allegedly been using to deceive travellers into paying hefty ‘penalties’.

According to police, Kumar had been purchasing general coach tickets in bulk and boarding long-distance trains to resell them at inflated rates to passengers without tickets. He would reportedly claim to be conducting an official ticket-checking operation, mostly targeting less-educated individuals from rural backgrounds who were unfamiliar with railway protocols.

During interrogation, Kumar confessed that he had previously worked as a vendor selling bottled water on trains running between Haridwar and Bengaluru. After his contract ended about a year ago, he found himself unemployed and came up with the scheme as a way to earn quick money. Investigators revealed that he was making between ₹7,000 and ₹10,000 a day by either selling pre-bought tickets or extracting so-called fines from travellers.

A joint team from the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) had been tracking Kumar’s movements on the Gomti Express. He was eventually apprehended at Aligarh when he failed to produce any official identification or documents confirming employment with Indian Railways.

As per Times of India report, a case has been registered under relevant Sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, specifically for impersonation and cheating. Kumar has since been remanded in custody. Authorities are now investigating how long he had been carrying out the con and whether he had any accomplices.