Five women were arrested at Howrah station on Wednesday morning on charges of collecting money for two fake organisations claiming to be working for thalassaemia patients.

The five have also been charged with ticketless travelling.

Riya Bhattacharya, 18, Piyali Kapoor, 27, Mona Das, 30, Ila Pal, 32, and Deepa Chatterjee, 34 — all residents of Burdwan and Kalna — had been allegedly collecting money from passengers of express trains for the past few months.

“The five claimed to have been working for Burdwan Thalassaemia Welfare Society and Nabajiban Welfare Society, which do not exist,” said an Government Railway Police (GRP) officer.

The coupons — of Rs 5 and Rs 10 — they were carrying bore the name of Kanai Baidya as the secretary of Burdwan Thalassaemia Welfare Society.

Baidya denied the police charge, claiming his organisation was genuine. “We have been collecting money in this way for the past 15 months. The women get a monthly salary,” he said.

“The five said during interrogation that they used to keep for themselves 40 per cent of the collection and hand over the rest to Baidya,” the GRP officer said.