Hanumantha Rao, key suspect in the recent online ticket booking fraud in APSRTC, was caught by the Hyderabad Central Crime Station officials on Tuesday.
Rao of Warangal had been a RTC private booking agent in Hyderabad for past 12 years. Investigators said the suspect somehow managed to secure passwords of RTC depot booking clerks across the State.
“Since many of them used simple and familiar passwords, he noted them down,” the police said.
Using that password, he logged into the online account of a Vizianagaram booking clerk. Without depositing money with the clerk, he began to issue tickets from that account in Hyderabad. He would go to other private RTC booking agents and get the same tickets cancelled and take refund of the money.
Thus, he made nearly Rs. 5 lakh in the past few months. Rao is being interrogated to ascertain if others were involved in the fraud.