Insurance Scam Worth Crores Discovered in Sambhal, Police Files 800-Page Chargesheet Against 11 People
Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh: Around three months after a massive insurance fraud was uncovered in Sambhal district, the police have taken a major step by filing an 800-page chargesheet against 11 people involved in the scam. These accused belong to different states including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
This gang is now being referred to as the “insurance mafia” because of how they cleverly cheated well-known insurance companies like ICICI Prudential, PNB MetLife, Bajaj Allianz, and SBI Life Insurance. The scam involved making fake life insurance policies in the names of people who were either about to die or were already dead.
How the Scam Was Discovered
The investigation started when police stopped an SUV in Sambhal on January 17. Inside the vehicle, they found a huge amount of unaccounted cash, along with PAN cards, debit cards, and other suspicious documents. This led the police to dig deeper, eventually uncovering a scam that spread across 12 states in India.
The investigation was led by Sambhal Superintendent of Police (SP) Krishna Kumar Vishnoi, Additional SP Anukriti Sharma, and Circle Officer Deepak Kumar. A total of 26 people were identified as part of the syndicate, and several have already been arrested. So far, the police have named 11 of them in the chargesheet, including:
- Omkareshwar Mishra from Varanasi
- Surajpal and Shahrukh Khan from Sambhal
- Shivendra Kumar from Bihar
Many more suspects are still being traced, and the police have said that more names will be added in future chargesheets as the investigation continues.
How the Gang Cheated Insurance Companies
This group used a very deceptive and unethical method to carry out their fraud. They would target poor and terminally ill people (those who were very sick and close to death). These individuals were falsely presented as healthy so that they could be issued life insurance policies.
Here’s how the scam worked:
- The gang would pay the insurance premium themselves.
- Once the insured person died (often soon after the policy was issued), they would quickly claim the insurance money and vanish.
- In some cases, the policies were made after the person had already died, by using fake documents with backdated details.
What Happened to the Families of the Deceased?
According to ASP Anukriti Sharma, the gang operated in two ways:
- Sometimes, they would give a small portion of the insurance money to the family of the deceased.
- In many cases, the family had no idea that an insurance policy had even been issued and they got nothing at all.
Legal Action So Far
- 14 FIRs (First Information Reports) have been registered across various police stations.
- The scam has affected districts beyond Sambhal, including Badaun, Moradabad, and Amroha.
Conclusion
This insurance scam is one of the biggest frauds of its kind in recent times, affecting multiple insurance companies and spreading across dozens of states. The police are continuing their investigation, and more arrests are expected soon.
