New Delhi, Apr 20 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at 12 locations across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi in an ongoing investigation of a case related to illegal sale of reserved e-tickets of Indian Railways through the IRCTC website.

The case was lodged by the CBI on March 1, 2021.

"During investigation, it was found that the agents were allegedly using illegal software to bypass the manual entry process for purchasing tickets, which were sold to travellers at a premium. The CBI identified the agents involved in this illegal activity and conducted simultaneous searches," the official said.

In the searches, digital devices, mobile phones containing illegal software, incriminating documents, and other details including tickets of passengers booked earlier using the illegal software were recovered.

The CBI said that the person responsible for selling and distributing the illegal software to various agents was also identified.