Motor insurance racket unearthed

The Cyber Crime Wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Monday arrested six persons for allegedly issuing fake motor insurance policies.

The police seized fake insurance certificates from them. Commissioner of Police Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal told the media that the arrests were made following a complaint from United India Insurance.

“We have seized laptops from them. The preliminary investigation revealed that they had cheated around 300 people. Further investigation is on,” said Mr. Aggarwal. During the COVID-19 pandemic, insurance companies encouraged vehicle owners to use online portal for buying motor insurance for all vehicles, except those in the commercial category.

The gang used the portal to generate fake policies for commercial vehicles at a lower rate applicable only to light motor vehicles (LMVs) and two-wheelers. The special team found the involvement of a gang led by Mariappan of Tirunelveli with Sumathi, who edited fake policies and provided bank account numbers in connivance with Anand, an insurance agent.

Cash, gold seized

The team arrested Mariappan in Tirunelveli and seized some documents and cellphones from him.

The team also seized ₹9.54 lakh, gold of 133 sovereigns worth ₹53 lakh, an SUV and original registered documents in Mariappan’s name for an estimated value of ₹3 crore.

The names of the other accused persons were given as Ansar Ali from Keeranur, Pudukkottai district, and his associates Jainallaudeen and Senthilkumar, and Sumathi, an associate of Mariappan who shared the bank account for receiving the cheated money. Two laptops and a printer were seized from Sumathi. Insurance agent Anand was arrested.

The Commissioner said that vehicle owners buying insurance policy online should verify the genuineness and validity of such documents with the respective corporate office and their website to ensure that the policies were genuine.

Source: The Hindu