4 men kill disabled beggar in Uttar Pradesh, fake accident to withdraw Rs 15 lakh from policies

Time of India

03-05-2025

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MEERUT: It was an easy case to solve for the police when it happened months ago. A wheel-chair bound beggar, unable to dodge the accident in time, was hit by a passing car that killed him. Open and shut, as they say. And it was, too. Until an insurance firm suspected foul play 20 days ago.
Daryab Singh, 38, it has now turned out, was murdered by four men who had craftily been able to pass it on as a hit-and-run to eventually withdraw lakhs from insurance policies they had managed to take out in his name using fraud.
Now in police custody, the accused - Hariom, his brother Vinod Kumar, Pankaj Raghav, a relationship associate at Max Life Insurance who was attached to a bank in Chandausi (Sambhal), and Pratap Kumar, a murder convict out on bail - had not only eliminated an innocent beggar but successfully withdrawn Rs 10 lakh in his name.
Another Rs 5 lakh, released under a govt accident scheme into the account of the dead man's wife, was also siphoned off without the latter's knowledge.
Accused got Daryab drunk, then struck him with hammer
Sambhal additional SP, Anukriti Sharma, told TOI on Friday: 'Hariom, Vinod and Pratap executed the plan near a hotel in Chandausi in July 2024. After a scouting mission, they first got Daryab drunk. One of them then struck him with a hammer. Once he collapsed, another ran him over to make the death look like a road mishap. The accused stayed at the bloody site until they were sure Daryab was dead. Someone reported an accident at Chandausi thana.'
After the cremation, Raghav began preparing insurance claims. Daryab's brother Rajender Singh was manipulated into opening a bank account, with Raghav allegedly retaining access and forging consent for the policies. Rajender -unaware of the true nature of the plan or his brother's violent death -was misled into believing the money would come from govt welfare schemes.
Explaining how the case was reopened recently despite being closed by police in Dec last year, ASP Sharma said, 'An insurance firm flagged the Daryab case. Although a final closure report was already filed, we subsequently found several inconsistencies..."
One major red flag? Everyone knew Daryab, financially weak, was wheelchair-bound and physically incapable of walking more than a few metres. How did he end up 27 km away from his village? Also, his wheelchair was missing from the "accident" scene.
Another key question was the financial aspect. Barely surviving on alms, how was it possible for Daryab to purchase multiple policies and pay premiums? Moreover, while the beggar's brother was listed as the nominee, it was Raghav's phone number that appeared on the claim forms. "Finally, call detail records and bank documents helped us connect the dots and confirm the trickery," the ASP said, adding that an FIR was lodged against the four accused under BNS sections 103 (1) (murder), 238 (disappearance of evidence), 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy), 318 (4) (cheating and dishonesty), among others, on Thursday.