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Time of India
05-07-2025
- Time of India
MCD agent, Delhi hosp technician among 5 arrested in Rs 500 crore insurance scam
Meerut: Five people, including a woman, were arrested on Saturday for allegedly forging medical and civic records to fraudulently claim insurance payouts by falsely declaring already deceased individuals as recently dead. The arrests are the latest development in the Rs 500 crore insurance scam that has spanned over seven years and involved multiple states. The arrested include Prem Pal, an agent linked to Delhi MCD; Nawaz Ahmed, a technician from GB Pant Hospital, Delhi; Kalpana Singh, a CSB Bank employee; Ravinder Gupta, an insurance claim investigator; and Virender Kumar, a former guard and aspiring cricketer. The scam, first reported by TOI, has unravelled a network of fraud that spans multiple states and involves forged documents, insider collusion, and insurance manipulation. In one instance, the gang secured Rs 70 lakh through three fraudulent policies for Trilok Kumar, a Delhi man who died of cancer in June 2024. After convincing Kumar's widow, Sapna, with promises of financial help, the gang procured his ID documents and purchased three policies in Sept 2024. They later submitted forged ECG reports, fake doctor seals, and a fabricated second death certificate claiming Kumar died of a heart attack at GB Pant Hospital in Dec 2024. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it legal? How to get Internet without paying a subscription? Techno Mag Learn More Undo Prem Pal, leveraging his MCD links, allegedly created a fake certificate for Rs 5,000. Nawaz Ahmed, a hospital orderly, forged medical files and stole documents for Rs 17,000 in bribes. He and others inserted the fake file into hospital records. Sambhal ASP Anukriti Sharma said, "They faked ECGs, signatures and the death record to match the insurance date. It was a complete fabrication. They even forged doctors' signatures and official seals." HDFC Life assigned Ravindra Gupta to investigate the claim of one of the policies. Persuaded by alleged kingpin Shahrukh Khan, Gupta filed a false report, leading to Rs 20 lakh being credited to Sapna's account. Police had seized her debit card and cheque book during Shahrukh's arrest in Feb, so the funds remained untouched. Other claims were cancelled once the fraud was detected. The scam was first uncovered on Jan 17, when Sambhal police intercepted a vehicle with Rs 11 lakh, 19 debit cards, and numerous documents. Six more were arrested by Feb 15 — including Shahrukh, Hirender Kumar, Roop Kishor, Prem Pal, Prem Singh and ASHA worker Neelam Devi. Seized items included 81 passbooks, 31 fake death certificates, and 18 forged bank stamps. The scam preyed on the poor and the sick, with some cases involving murder disguised as accidents to claim insurance. The wider UP-based insurance racket emerged as a large-scale fraud involving forged medical records, fake death certificates, and inflated insurance claims — sometimes linked to murders staged as accidents. It began surfacing in 2024 in Sambhal and has since spread to at least 12 states, including Delhi, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Initial investigations had estimated the scam's value at over Rs 100 crore, but fresh revelations, including the Trilok case, pushed the suspected fraud total higher. Enforcement Directorate is now probing links to multiple deaths and fraudulent claims, many targeting terminally ill patients or those already dead. Trilok's case was uncovered from documents seized in Feb. The gang had already taken control of Sapna's phone number, passbooks and chequebook. Police said Virender Kumar, once a guard, began helping patients get appointments, which connected him to Nawaz. After meeting Shahrukh in 2022, Virender became a full-time member, approaching bereaved families and offering false promises of aid. During Kumar's illness in early June 2024, his family had tried to admit him to GB Pant Hospital but were redirected. He later died, and Virender approached his widow. "We found out he had died, and that's when the gang reached out to his wife," said an officer. Kalpana, working as a business development officer, opened fake accounts using a lookalike of co-accused Hirender Kumar. She also tried to rope in Sapna with false insurance promises and received expensive gifts from Shahrukh to help meet her targets.
Mint
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Who is Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh? Senior leader named as BJP's mayoral candidate for MCD polls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced the name of Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh as the mayoral candidate for the upcoming Municipal Corporation of Delhi's annual election. The Delhi MCD polls are scheduled for April 25, with nominations for candidates open now. Here is everything you should know about BJP's mayoral candidate for Delhi MCD election, Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh. Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh will be running for the post of mayor in the upcoming Delhi MCD election 2025. Singh served as mayor during the BJP's previous term. Raja Iqbal Singh is at present the Leader of the Opposition in the MCD. He has served as the former Mayor of North MCD. He is also the former chairman of the Ward Committee in Civil Line Zone, as well as a former councillor of Mukherjee Nagar Ward 13. His rise within the BJP has been steep. The politician belongs to a family that has been associated with the Akali Dal. Singh's father-in-law was the councillor of GTB Nagar, and his brother is still involved in Akali politics actively, according to The Indian Express. Raja Iqbal Singh's Civil Line Zone stint till 2020 was on behalf of the Akali Dal. That year, when the party pulled out of NDA, the leadership asked him to resign from his post but he did not. Later in 2021, the BJP made him the mayor of North MCD. As the mayor, one of his first tasks was the controversial demolition drive in Jahangirpuri, which came after riots broke out in the area. According to The Indian Express, Singh is a man of few words. He had dismissed questions about the demolition, saying that the structures that were broken were part of an anti-encroachment drive. Following the announcement of his name, Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh said that Delhi's development will begin soon with a 'triple-engine' government. Mayor candidate for MCD Annual Election, Sardar Raja Iqbal Singh says, 'This is the win of Delhi's public that was fed up of AAP government. Now, a triple-engine government will be formed and Delhi development begin... Lotus will bloom in the entire civic centre as we have a lot of support from people,' he said. He also said, 'The biggest issue in Delhi is cleanliness. Delhi should be clean and green. We will work on educational facilities and primary health centres and try to maintain hygiene at all settlements'. The three civic bodies, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), were re-unified into a single entity on May 22, 2022, as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. In the 260-seat MCD, AAP currently leads the Corporation with an alliance with Congress. AAP has 114 seats, while Congress has 8, bringing the total to 122. With 12 seats vacant, the alliance passed the majority mark of 119. The BJP is the largest political party in the MCD, holding 116 seats. In MCD, 10 seats are nominated, while the remaining 250 are elected through wards. First Published: 21 Apr 2025, 05:56 PM IST
