3 held for selling bogus insurances

COPS HAVE FROZEN THE BANK ACCOUNT OF THE FIRM, WHICH HAD ₹6L, AND RECOVERED 306 DUPLICATE POLICIES

MUMBAI: The city crime branch recently arrested three men for allegedly selling more than 800 bogus insurance policies related to two-wheelers. The scam came to light after a 21-year-old man, who worked as a delivery personnel with the bogus firm, One Point Solutions (OPS) General Insurance, went to the police.

The police arrested Prashant Sutar, 25, and Inayat Bedrekar, 31, from Karnataka, and another accused, Gajanan Patil, 28, from the firm’s office in Lower Parel on Wednesday. “Sutar was the CEO, while Bedrekar was the general manager. Both lived in Belgaum. Patil worked as supervisor,” said inspector Sanjay Nikumbhe of unit-3. The accused used to obtain data about owners of two-wheelers whose insurances were expired. Sutar and Bedrekar used to convince people to buy the outdated policies by changing the dates. Patil used to get the policies delivered, said an officer.

The police have frozen the bank account of the firm containing ₹6 lakh and recovered 306 duplicate policies. The accused were arrested under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 473, 120 b and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The complainant, a resident of Lower Parel, told HT he joined the firm as a delivery personnel in 2018. “I used to deliver policy papers to the customers and collect from them. I also bought a two-wheeler policy in December 2018.” A few days ago, while delivering papers to a customer in Jogeshwari, the latter claimed the papers were fake. Although the matter was solved then, he realised something was amiss.

“After I scanned the barcode of the policy I had got on the concerned firm’s website, I found the policy was bought in 2015 and had expired in 2016. I realised the accused were selling expired policies,” he said. He then approached the police. Sutar and Bedrekar were brought to Mumbai and the trio were remanded in police custody till February 18.