Man held for non-payment of insurance claim dies in custody of revenue police

HARIDWAR: A 48-year-old man, who was held by revenue authorities on Sunday evening on the charges of not repaying Rs 2.25 lakh claim to an insurance company, died allegedly in the custody of the department hours later.

The deceased has been identified as Murtaza, a resident of Pavdohi area that falls under the jurisdiction of Jwalapur police station in Haridwar. He was held by the revenue department on Sunday evening and was declared brought dead by doctors at the district hospital around 8 pm on the same day.

A magisterial inquiry has been recommended in the case. Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased staged a protest against the district administration and demanded action and compensation for the death.

Providing details of the case, Rizwan Ali, a relative of the deceased, told TOI, “In 2004, Murtaza sold his auto to a man named Tanjeem Qureshi and made a notary agreement but the auto was still registered in Murtaza’s name. Three years later, the auto met with an accident and the driver, whom Qureshi had given the auto on lease, died. Following this, the family got a compensation of Rs 2.25 lakh from the insurance company.”

Ali added that in 2012, officials of the insurance company approached Murtaza and demanded back the claim money. “They said that the insurance claim was invalid and citing the registration certificate which said that the auto was in the name of Murtaza, asked him to pay back the money. When Murtaza refused, they moved the district court but the court ruled in Murtaza’s favour. The company then approached HC and the case was moved back to the district court in 2013. After a long legal battle, the district court finally ruled in favour of the insurance company in January this year and asked the office of the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) to retrieve the amount from Murtaza by March 12,” Ali said, adding. “We informed the revenue officers about the past history of the case but even then, they reached Murtaza’s house before March 12 and took him in their custody.”

When queried about the matter, Haridwar SDM Kusum Chauhan said, “We were asked by the court to recover the amount before March 12 but Murtaza failed to repay. So, following the Public Money (Recovery of Dues) Act, 1965, we took him into 14-day custody. But since Murtaza was already unwell, he died. We have conducted his post-mortem, the report of which is awaited, and a letter has also been sent to the human rights commission. Further, we will ask the court to order a magisterial inquiry into the matter.” Meanwhile, Yogesh Dev, station house officer of Jwalapur police station said that the body had no injury marks.

Source: The Times of India