Five persons, including four MTC employees, were arrested for printing and selling fake bus passes and causing a revenue loss of several lakhs of rupees to the corporation.
According to police, V. Krishnamurthy, managing director of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation, Chennai, lodged a complaint with the Chennai Police Commissioner.
He said it has come to his notice that many fake Travel As You Please Ticket (TAYPT) monthly passes which cost ₹1,000 each were being distributed across 26 centres of the MTC .
The anti-forgery wing of the Central Crime Branch formed special teams to investigate. The officers found that fake passes were being circulated at the counters in Anna Nagar (West), Adambakkam and Thiruvanmiyur bus depots.
Investigation revealed that Krishnakumar, 41, a resident of Sembakkam and cashier in MTC, had purchased a colour photostat machine worth ₹2.5 lakh to print and distribute fake passes. He would give around 200 such passes every month to M. Jagadeesh, a staff at the Thiruvanmiyur bus depot sales counter.
Police also found that two more MTC staff were involved in a similar act.
T. Prakash, a staff at Anna Nagar bus depot, was found selling fake passes with the assistance of his colleague D. Suresh Kumar who worked as an accountant. The passes were printed by their friend Ramesh Babu in Tiruttani.
All the five have been remanded and sent to Puzhal prison.
