Chennai: A youth who was posing as a train ticket examiner and collecting cash from passengers in the general compartment of the Pearl City express on Friday night was caught red handed by a woman traffic constable and handed over to Tambaram railway police station. However, the cops at the railway police station let him go saying that there is no evidence to show he was cheating commuters.

According to police sources, the man identified as Shankar Ganesh, 31, a native of Thoothukudi who is working as a mason in Koyambedu, was trying extract money from people traveling without tickets in the compartment.

"He was drunk and nobody bothered to question his authenticity except a police woman named K Vasanthy. She was returning to her home in Chengalpet after finishing control room duty when she noted Shankar Ganesh signing on tickets and trying to extract money from people travelling without tickets. She guessed he was a fraud and confronted him. Although not many bothered to support her, she managed to catch hold of the conman and handed him over to the RPF constable. The RPF constable later handed him over to the railway police," police said.

The Tambaram railway police station asked the woman constable to come on Saturday to complete the formalities of case and registering FIR. However, enquiries revealed that the Tambaram railway police team decided to let him go after acknowledging the incident with a CSR. "He was let off and has been told to come for enquiry whenever summoned," sources said.

Despite a conman posing as TTE was caught by a woman constable traveling in the train, the railway police seems to have decided not take action against him as there was nothing to show he was a fake TTE. "He was not in uniform. He was not carrying any fake identity card," the police added.