UP police unearths insurance fraud with claim of Rs 50 crore; probe points to possible murder
A shocking Rs 50 crore insurance fraud involving Niva Bupa Health Insurance and Mukesh Singhal's suspicious death is under intense police scrutiny. Despite a low income, Singhal held extensive policies. Discrepancies in his road accident claim point to a potential murder conspiracy.
New Delhi: Insurance fraud is not new, and it existed even before the evolution of technology in today's world. However, a new case has come to the fore, which has rattled the insurance world and the police department.
Fraud to grab a whopping insurance amount
Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company filed a complaint with the Hapur police in Uttar Pradesh, claiming the death in a road accident might actually be a well-planned conspiracy to grab the insurance amount of Rs 50 crore. It has levelled allegations of fraud against the deceased Mukesh Singhal, his nominees Vishal Kumar and Sanjay Kumar.
What is the case in question involving Rs 50 crore insurance?
The deceased, Mukesh Singhal, was a policyholder of several insurance companies, including Niva Bupa, Aditya Birla, Bajaj Allianz, HDFC Ergo, Max Life, Tata AIG and Tata AIA. His declared annual income was only Rs 6 to 7 lakh, but he had taken insurance coverage of around Rs 50 crore.
The huge difference between such extensive coverage and low income itself raises suspicion. The nominee, Vishal Kumar, filed the claim after Mukesh's death. But during the claim process, the insurance companies detected several discrepancies, after which a police complaint was filed.
What kind of discrepancy is there in the case?
As per the police complaint filed, Mukesh Singhal was returning from Garh Ganga on March 27, 2024, on his bike. An acquaintance of his got off the bike, and then an unknown vehicle hit Singhal.
He was admitted to Anand Hospital in Meerut, where he died during treatment. However, a major contradiction emerged between the medical records and the postmortem report. As per the insurance claim, the accident occurred during the day, while hospital documents record that it took place around 8 p.m. Furthermore, the injuries reported in the road accident and the injuries recorded in the postmortem do not match.
What has the police probe revealed?
The police and insurance companies suspected that it was not a normal road accident, but a planned incident. The investigation revealed that witnesses to the accident could have been bribed to record their statements. Age discrepancies were found in Aadhaar and PAN cards. Furthermore, no registration number or identification of the vehicle that caused the accident was presented.
City Kotwali police station in-charge Devendra Bisht said that the insurance companies also alleged that the nominee, Vishal Kumar, did not cooperate in the investigation and did not submit the documents. He even allegedly tried to bribe an insurance official to speed up the claim process.
Bisht stated that Vishal Kumar and his accomplice, Satish Kumar, have been arrested in Meerut and sent to jail. Efforts are underway to arrest others who might be involved in this conspiracy.
Notably, Vishal Kumar has previously been involved in insurance claim cases. Investigations suggest he may have benefited from insurance claims related to the deaths of his mother and wife. It is thought that Mukesh was probably murdered as part of a well-planned conspiracy, and the insurance money may have been usurped.