Court allows wife killer to collect life insurance

The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that a man who was found not criminally responsible for his wife’s murder because he was insane at the time should be able to collect on her $51,000 life insurance policy.

The Tuesday ruling overturns a lower judge’s decision that argued public policy prevents killers from benefiting from their victims’ deaths.

The Appeal Court ordered the money to be paid to Ved Parkash Dhingra, but it stayed the order for 30 days to allow the provincial government to decide if it wants to seek forfeiture of the funds.

The money deposited with the accountant of the Superior Court of Justice, along with all accrued interest, “is rightfully payable” to Dhingra, the court said in its judgment.

The funds are to be paid out to the law firm of Dhingra’s lawyer in trust for his client, the court said.

Dhingra’s lawyer, Eric Wolfman, told Postmedia News the court “made the right decision based on the law.”

“I don’t know if it sets a precedent,” he said, but the decision “makes it clear that people who are found not criminally responsible are just that, not criminally responsible.”

Wolfman said the court would now have to determine if the insurance money is deemed to be proceeds of the crime. If so, the money would not go to Dhingra but to the Crown.

In 2008, a Toronto area court ruled Dhingra wasn’t responsible for second-degree murder because he suffered from schizophrenia, although it found that Dhingra caved in his estranged wife’s head with a religious statue and repeatedly stabbed her in her home.

The couple’s son, Paul, discovered the bloody scene.

In 1998, Dhingra took out a $51,000 group life insurance policy. His wife, Kamlesh Kumari, was named as the beneficiary. Under the policy, his wife was also insured and Dhingra was her beneficiary.

The couple had been separated since 1992 and Dhingra had been “suffering from a serious mental disorder for many years,” according to court documents.

The year after his wife’s 2006 murder, Dhingra’s son Paul, who was acting as administrator of his mother’s estate, submitted an accidental death claim application claiming the proceeds of the insurance policy on behalf of his father.

The insurer, Scotia Life, agreed to pay Dhingra, but did not immediately pay out the proceeds.

After Dhingra’s criminal trial, his son requested that proceeds be paid to his mother’s estate.

In 2009, a court order was granted requiring Scotia Life, the insurer, to deposit the proceeds into court. Then, Dhingra’s son brought an application to have the proceeds paid to him.