A law student, agitated at the plight of railway travelers who are fleeced by touts, spent the morning of Diwali day at the Dadar booking office to help nab four touts.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) has arrested the four under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and recovered Rs10,000, which they had taken from the student for tickets.

Rajendra Trivedi, senior police inspector, Mumbai Central GRP, named those arrested as Krishna Rajput (37), Santosh Varma (25), Asif Choudhari (25) and Devkumar Rai (28).

Early on Sunday, Dharmendra Mishra, the student, traveled from his home in south Mumbai to the Western Railway’s reservation office in Dadar and stood in one of the queues to book tickets.

“As early as 9am, there was a big rush at the reservation office. Within a few minutes a man approached me, offering to help me get the tickets,” said the 24-year-old who is studying at KC Law College. “Of course, I was only posing as a traveler. So I told him that I wanted six AC tickets to Ajmer.”

Mishra said the man asked for Rs10,000 and that when he inquired from him why he wanted such a large amount, the man said he had to pay some money to a railway officer to get confirmed tickets.

“Before going away to get the tickets, the man asked two associates to help me to fill a reservation form and asked me to meet him near the washroom to collect the tickets,” Mishra said.

When the men did not turn up for over an hour, the student approached the police at Dadar station. The police combed the reservation office and surrounding area and managed to nab the four men a little after noon.

Mishra has previously assisted families whose members were victims of railway accidents to claim the bodies. He also spares time to work with the Mumbai Suburban Railway Passengers’ Association.