Bizarre: Four men try to cremate mannequin to fake employee’s death for Rs 50 lakh insurance payout

New Delhi: In a bizarre attempt to stage a fake death for insurance fraud, four men brought what they claimed was a dead body to Brajghat in Hapur only for locals to find that it was a plastic mannequin wrapped in a sheet. The incident took place under the Garhmukteshwar police station area and a video from the ghat has since surfaced online.

According to Nitin, an employee at the crematorium, an i-20 car with an HR registration number arrived on Thursday afternoon. Two men stepped out, purchased ghee and other funeral items and requested that a pyre be prepared. Once the pyre was ready, the group laid what appeared to be a body on it, without opening the sheet. Their hesitation raised suspicion.

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“I asked them to open the blanket, but they kept refusing. After a heated argument, they finally removed it and we found a plastic mannequin inside,” Nitin said. He immediately alerted the police.

Before officers could reach the spot, two members of the group fled. The remaining two,  identified as Delhi-based textile traders Kamal Somani and Ashish Khurana, were detained. Police also found two additional mannequins inside the car.

During questioning, the men initially claimed the “bodies” were handed to them sealed by staff at Ansari Hospital in Palam, Delhi. However, when interrogated further, Kamal Somani confessed to orchestrating the plot.

Kamal told the police that he had been under severe stress due to a debt of Rs 50 lakh. To repay it, he took out a Tata AIA insurance policy a year earlier in the name of an acquaintance, Anshul, who had briefly worked at his clothing store. Using pretexts, Kamal had obtained Anshul’s Aadhaar and PAN details and made himself the nominee, regularly paying the policy premiums.

His plan was to cremate a mannequin as a stand-in for Anshul, obtain a fake death certificate and claim the Rs 50 lakh insurance payout. Police later contacted Anshul via video call from Kamal’s phone. Anshul confirmed he was alive and currently staying at his home in Prayagraj.

Inspector Manoj Baliyan of the Kotwali police station said that the two detained men were being questioned further and the investigation was ongoing from all possible angles.