Mumbai Crime: Constable, medical officer booked in bid to dupe LIC of Rs 2 crore

The accused who were arrested on March 2 and 4 at the Shivaji Park police station

The Shivaji Park police, who have been investigating a conspiracy to fraudulently obtain R 2 crore from an insurance company, have framed charges against the medical officer of a civil hospital and a constable, who helped to hand over a body, which was made to appear of the person who had bought the policy, to the accused.

The accused had paid Rs 60,000 to the doctor for the job. The constable is still absconding. The cops have filed a 1,200-page charge sheet against six individuals in connection with the case.

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An offence was registered at the Shivaji Park police station following a complaint by an official from the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) on February 21. The official alleged that on March 14, 2017, a woman named Nandabai Taksale applied for a death claim mentioning her son Dinesh lost his life in a road accident on December 25, 2016.

The policy issued by LIC in 2015 was worth Rs 2 crore and the applicant Dinesh had claimed he was earning R38.85 lakh from his farm and R2.74 Lakh from his mess annually.

On July 5, 2015, the LIC office decided to accept his application and sanctioned a Jivan Anand policy for 35 years worth R2 crore. Dinesh had been asked to pay Rs 1.46 lakh as a premium for the first trimester.

In March 2017, during the verification process, LIC officials found that the documents provided by the woman while applying for the policy were forged. Dinesh apparently didn't own any farm or run any mess. There were discrepancies in the documents attached to the death claim. An application was made to the police station for investigation and during the probe when the cops reached Dinesh's residence they were surprised to find that, his mother knew nothing of this and she said her son was very much alive.

After a search was launched, Dinesh was arrested on March 2. The probe revealed that two others, Anil Lakde, 32, and Vijay Malwade, 33, were involved. They were arrested on March 4. The trio had gone to the Shrigonda Civil Hospital and managed to get a body. They prepared documents for ‘Dinesh' and even ‘cremated him'. The woman who would later pose as Dinesh's mother while applying for the policy money also played this role in the hospital.

"During the probe, we wanted to find who had gone to the hospital as well as to the LIC office to make the claim. The probe revealed it was Zumbarbai Waghmode, 43, a resident of Ahmednagar and a relative of Malwade. A medical officer of the hospital, Dr Vishal Keware, helped prepare the documents. He received Rs 60,000 for this," said an official privy to the investigation.

The probe also revealed that Constable Kailas Deshmukh, who was then posted at Belwandi police station, had given a no-objection certificate to claim the body. "He has been on the run since the arrests occurred. He hasn't reported to work since March 13," another official said.

"The body was of a person who died in an accident in front of Hotel Sai Palace on the Pune-Ahmednagar Road, which falls under the jurisdiction of Belwandi police station," he added.

Constable Deshmukh allegedly knew about the accident and helped the accused get the body, it's still unclear if he received money for this. A team is consistently trying to track the constable.

Cops have booked all the accused under Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and 511 (Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code.

An accused, Nikhil Oswal, received protection from the court and obtained anticipatory bail.

2015
Year the policy was issued by LIC