LIC agent arrested for elevating claims of Rs 1.81 crore of ghost policyholders in Odisha

By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch arrested Kabiraj Behera, a LIC agent, for allegedly elevating Rs 1.81 crore insured quantity within the names of ghost policyholders.

Behera, a local of Jhadakata beneath Kanas police limits in Puri district, has been working as a LIC agent since 2003. The accused had reportedly managed to concern 23 insurance policies within the names of 4 useless individuals between 2013 and 2019 by claiming that they have been alive.

After three to 5 years of taking these insurance policies, Behera manufactured pretend demise certificates of the insured individuals subsequent to their precise demise.

The accused introduced the pretend demise certificates as real and utilized for demise claims in favour of the nominees at LIC’s department workplace in Khurda.

On suspicion of settlement of pretend claims, Khurda department LIC’s authorised officer lodged a grievance on this regard with EOW. The company then registered a case on Wednesday beneath Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120B of IPC.

“It has been ascertained that the insurance policies were taken subsequent to the actual death of insured persons but the premium was being paid regularly. Intentionally, in all the policies the sum assured was kept less than Rs 10 lakh as the branch manager has the financial power to settle death benefits up to this amount without referring to the divisional office,” EOW SP Jai Narayan Pankaj advised The New Indian Express.

The EOW officers have established that the whole quantity of claims raised via 23 insurance policies was greater than Rs 1.81 crore. LIC officers had launched funds towards 5 insurance policies. Later, the officers sensed the criminal activity, didn’t settle the claims of the remaining insurance policies, and approached the company on this regard.

During searches at Behera’s home, many incriminating paperwork like voter identification playing cards, Aadhaar playing cards and ATM playing cards, cheques and financial institution passbooks of nominees, and correspondences made by the LIC have been seized.

Besides this, some papers containing the purported full signatures of the ghost policyholders have been additionally recovered from the accused.

“The role of nominees of fake policies, and if any other LIC official was hand in glove with Behera is being investigated. Further, it is under verification whether the accused has received financial benefits through other fake policies,” stated Pankaj.