Insurance scam: Claims review firm owner, pvt bank staff among 6 arrested

Meerut: Police arrested six more individuals on Thursday in a multi-crore insurance scam involving stolen identities, forged death certificates, and fraudulent claims, bringing the total arrests to 15 across 12 states. The scam targeted terminally ill patients and grieving families, luring them into fraudulent life insurance policies.Among those arrested is Shailender Singh, owner of East India Investigation Company, operating since 2017, along with Nitin Chaudhary and Abhinesh Pathak, deputy managers at YES Bank's Anupshahar branch in Bulandshahr. The bank employees allegedly helped fraudsters open fake accounts, issue chequebooks, ATM cards, and passbooks, and process insurance claims without verification, enabling the network to withdraw large sums under false claims, said additional SP Anukriti Sharma, the lead investigator.An FIR has been registered, and the six accused have been booked under multiple BNS sections, including 318(4) (cheating for transfer of property), 338 (forgery), 336(3) (forgery to cause harm), 340(2) (using forged documents), 111(2) (organised crime), and 407 (criminal breach of trust), Sambhal SP Krishan Kumar Bishnoi told TOI.The case of Surjeet Singh from Budaun explains the nature of the fraud. After his father's death in July 2024, fraudsters used his Aadhaar and PAN details to open a fake bank account at YES Bank's Anupshahar branch and withdrew Rs 4.5 lakh using a forged cheque. Denying any involvement, Surjeet said, "I never signed any cheques, nor was I aware of this account."What started as a routine police stop in Sambhal on Jan 17 exposed a nationwide financial crime. The scam, running for seven years, preyed on the poor, terminally ill, and elderly, including cancer patients, bedridden seniors, and late-stage kidney disease sufferers.In some cases, even deceased individuals were insured, and claims were withdrawn without their families' knowledge. "One such case emerged during the investigation — Trilok Kumar, a Delhi resident who died of cancer in June last year, was insured in September for Rs 22 lakh. He was falsely shown as admitted to a renowned Delhi hospital in December, and a death certificate was issued the same day. This was then used to claim the insurance amount," Sharma added.So far, investigators have arrested 15 persons, including bank employees, ASHA workers, insurance agents, and employees of investigation firms involved in fabricating policies and forging death certificates. Police are digging deeper into what appears to be one of the biggest insurance frauds in recent years.