A 31-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly selling counterfeit entry tickets to visitors at Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai at prices higher than the prescribed rates, while police are searching for the alleged supplier of the fake tickets and investigating the revenue loss to the state government.
The Kasturba Marg police arrested Akash Ravindra Sardar after forest officials detected that tickets in his possession had not been issued through the park’s authorised ticket counter. The alleged fraud came to light on October 6, when a tourist approached Shivraj Ugle, a forest guard on duty at SGNP, after being sold a torn entry ticket.
Ugle then contacted the park’s ticket counter to verify the ticket. Officials found that it had not been issued by the authorised system. Sardar was subsequently noticed in the visitor queue behaving suspiciously, according to the report. Forest department officials examined nine tickets found in his possession and found differences in the paper quality, printing and fonts compared with tickets issued at the official counter.
The forest department handed Sardar over to the Kasturba Marg police, who registered a case in connection with the alleged counterfeiting and sale of the tickets. The case involves both visitor protection and the management of entry revenue at one of Mumbai’s most significant protected urban landscapes.
Police are also looking for Ganesh Ishwar Thakur, whom investigators believe prepared the counterfeit tickets and supplied them to Sardar for sale. A police officer said Sardar initially gave evasive answers during questioning but allegedly disclosed Thakur’s role during further investigation. The police have not yet established the full extent of the alleged operation.
Authorities are trying to determine the total revenue allegedly lost by the state government through the sale of the fake tickets. The report does not provide an estimate of the loss or specify how many counterfeit tickets may have been sold beyond the nine tickets found with the arrested suspect.
SGNP covers 103.84 square kilometres and is a protected forest area under the direct control of the Maharashtra Forest Department. Its ticketing system is therefore linked not only to visitor access but also to the administration of a protected public asset and the collection of government revenue.
The police action was carried out by Senior Police Inspector Balasaheb Bankar, Inspector Yogesh Pawar, Assistant Inspector Sambhaji Thorat and Sub-Inspector Sainath Bargaje, along with members of the Crime Detection Team. The investigation remains focused on locating the alleged main accused, examining the machinery and software believed to have been used to manufacture the fake tickets, and assessing the financial impact on the government.
