Imposter takes railway staff for a ride demanding VIP treatment

CHENNAI: A 56-year-old man from Hyderabad, posing as a relative of the Railway board chairman, took the staff at the Chennai central railway station for a ride on Thursday night demanding VIP treatment, after his train got delayed.

After a night’s stay in the VIP lounge and a sumptuous dinner, sponsored by the railway staff, the impostor might have gotten away, had he not repeated his behaviour again the next morning, creating a ruckus, demanding breakfast before boarding his train to Coimbatore.

Irate railway staff who filed a complaint with their higher authorities over the high-handed behaviour by the man led to the officials checking his credentials and learning that he was not who he claimed to be.

According to GRP (Government railway police) officials, the accused, Karra Udaya Bhaskar, created a ruckus on the night of July 7 with the platform inspector and station master on duty around 11:30 pm, demanding that the VIP lounge be opened as his train got delayed.

“He threatened the officials with dire consequences, claiming to be a relative of the Chairman of Railway board, ” according to the FIR. He also threw around the names of all officials in Southern Railways and claimed being well acquainted with them.

When the officials initially denied to heed in to his demands, he called up the personal secretary of chief commercial maanger railways (CCM) and sang the same tune.

Based on the information from commercial control, he was sheltered in the VIP lounge and was also provided dinner, as per his demands.

On Friday morning, around 10 am, he boarded the Kochuveli express, but not before creating another ruckus demanding breakfast and refreshments. The platform inspector on duty, Soviath Anbu refused to accede to his demands and information was passed on to the higher authorities about the man’s behaviour. When railway authorities checked with the concerned officials, they learnt that the man was an impostor.

Message was passed on to the police to deboard him from the train and around 12.30 pm, when the train reached Katpadi, he was secured by police and bought back to Chennai in West Coast Express.

Investigations revealed that he is into trading of aluminium profiles and had come to Chennai for business purposes.

GRP booked him under sections of IPC including 419 (impersonation), IPC 353 (Criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and IPC 506 (i) (criminal intimidation). He was arrested and remanded in judicial custody.