Kathmandu. Sambhal police in Uttar Pradesh have busted a racket of making fake insurance policies. It has been revealed that this gang has embezzled crores of rupees by providing fake insurance to the deceased.
Sambhal police have so far arrested 25 people in connection with the incident. The gang has a network spread across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana, Gujarat, Delhi, Assam, Bengal and Chhattisgarh.
The incident of this insurance fraud started on January 17, 2025. It was night time. The cold was growing. Meanwhile, Sambhal’s Additional SP Anukriti Sharma was going somewhere in her car. Then on the way a black Scorpio overtook his car. ASP Anukriti got suspicious seeing the speed and way the vehicle was overtaken. She stopped the car. There were two people named Omkareshwar Mishra and Amit in the car. At first, they ignored the police questions. However, 16 debit cards, documents related to the insurance company and Rs 11.45 lakh in cash were recovered from their possession. Further investigation found that this was not a small event.
According to Additional SP Anukreethy Sharma, investigation has revealed that the gang used to target people suffering from any serious disease or dying. After collecting information from ASHA workers and village chiefs, the gang reached out to such people. People were lured by government schemes and promises of financial support. Their PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, etc. were taken away. After this, insurance policies were issued in the name of patients and the premium of the policy was also paid by the gang.
As soon as the patient died, the gang members claimed insurance and opened a bank account in the name of the nominee and kept his debit card and passbook with them. The nominee was silenced by giving some money. And eventually, gang members grabbed all the insurance money.
Additional SP Sharma said that the gang has so far cheated hundreds of people across India. “It belongs to Rukhsar, who lives in Bulandshahr. 45 days after the death of her husband Aslam, some people reached his house,” Sharma said, citing an incident in which she told Rukhsar that she had an insurance policy in her husband’s name. And withdrew the insurance amount by signing the documents. ’
An investigation by Sambhal police has revealed that the gang is not confined to Uttar Pradesh. Such fake insurance claims were also made in states like Uttarakhand, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam. The gang has cheated various insurance companies of more than Rs 31 crore (Rs 49.6 0 crore) in one year.
According to the police, the gang duped SBI Life Insurance of Rs 7.27 crore, PNB MetLife of Rs 2 crore, ICICI Prudential of Rs 4.5 crore, Canara HSBC of Rs 7 crore and India First Rs 10 crore. Sambhal police had asked insurance companies for a list of these policies. Initial claims were made in less than a year.
In addition, heart attack was said to be the cause of death in these cases. When we tried to contact the insured’s family, it was found that most of the phone numbers were switched off. Some of those who came in contact said they did not have any insurance. The police then started investigating all such dubious insurance policies and exposed the fraud of crores of rupees.
After this whole incident, the police felt that this gang would only target people who could die in the near future. However, according to a report published in Dainik Bhaskar on April 11, the gang is a step ahead of this. Not only the patients, this gang has also managed to grab money from the company by insuring the dead people.
Dainik Bhaskar’s special report has given some examples to show how the gang was insuring the names of the deceased. This is the case of Trilok Kumar, a resident of Delhi. Trilok was suffering from cancer. On June 15, 2024, he was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute in Delhi. He died on June 19. After his death, some people went to his wife and assured him of some financial support from the government. After this, they made two insurance policies in the name of Trilok.
After the insurance policy was formulated, the gang prepared fake hospital documents to show Trilok alive. After doing all the work, the gang staked claim to the insurance company and siphoned off the money.
Police are currently investigating the matter. Sambhal police said they were expecting more members of the gang to be arrested.
