Insurers duped of crores with 7 fake claims

NEW DELHI: Following a high court order, the crime branch of Delhi Police has found that an organised gang of advocates, cops and middlemen has duped insurance companies of crores in at least seven accident cases by raising fake claims.
The court had ordered the probe after more than half-a-dozen cases surfaced in which fake claims were raised in the detailed accident reports (DARs) filed by investigating officers of the accident cell allegedly in collusion with their associates.
The seven hit-and-run cases were reported in Narela, Bawana, Shahbad Dairy, Kanjhawala, Begumpur and other areas in outer Delhi. A special investigation team scrutinised all seven files and, on October 27, submitted a report to the court, which ordered registration of an FIR. The crime branch filed the FIR on November 14 under sections of fraud and criminal conspiracy and the DCP (crime) has been assigned the case.
Delhi Police has a separate unit, motor accident claims tribunal (MACT) cell, in every range to probe accident cases. Each cell, headed by an inspector, investigates fatal accident cases and coordinates with MACT. It also has a web-based database of accident cases to help the victims and their relatives.
According to an officer, initial investigations revealed that the names of a few people are same in the DARs and the FIRs. All seven cases had no eyewitness and six cases had already been decided in courts, the probe has revealed.
In a case in Bawana, Rs 35 lakh was paid by an insurance company while Rs 60 lakh was paid in another case in Kanjhawala. There are allegedly same sets of people who had been shown as the owner of the vehicle, eyewitness and the beneficiary.
From the analysis of these seven cases, it was found that the suspects — with intention to cheat the insurance companies and MACT courts — have fabricated and manipulated records and planted different vehicles, drivers, eyewitnesses and owners of offending vehicles, the FIR says.