Varanasi: A woman, in collusion with an insurance agent, got lakhs of rupees transferred into her account after proving her father-in-law dead by using forged death certificate and other policy documents. When Dudhnath Singh, 82, approached the insurance company officials, they swung into action and started investigating the matter. Of five policies sold to Singh by the same agent, Rs 19.31 lakh was claimed while Rs 13.34 lakh was transferred to the bank account of Singh’s daughter-in-law. The company filed a police complaint. Sigra police inspector Sanjay Kumar Mishra said that an FIR was lodged against Singh’s daughter-in-law and the insurance agent on charges of cheating and forgery on Wednesday. It came to light that Singh’s daughter-in-law had produced a death certificate on May 13, 2024, to prove that it was a natural death. Using the forged death certificate, she filed the claim and the settlement amount was transferred into her bank account.The company’s investigation found all policies were sourced by the same agent without proper verification of the necessary documents required for KYC, as date of birth, Aadhaar numbers. Other details, too, were different in all policies. Moreover, photos and signatures of the policyholder on the policies did not match. His daughter-in-law was a witness in all policies.The premiums in all three policies were paid digitally from the same bank account of the daughter-in-law, in which she received the death claim amount. Further investigation clarified that death settlements in five other policies sold by the same agent were also dubious, as, of the total claim amount of Rs 19.31 lakh, Rs 13.34 lakhs was transferred to the bank account of Singh’s daughter-in-law. After it was clear that the daughter-in-law and the agent were hand in glove, the company said a police investigation was needed to expose other persons involved, including those who issued fake death certificates.
