Punjab: Multi-crore insurance scam detected in Sangrur

PATIALA: The

Sangrur police

on Friday detected a

multi-crore insurance scam

in which an interstate gang of conmen was collecting data from

insurance companies

and then misleading the policy holders into investing money in

ponzy schemes

on promising them waivers on

insurance premiums

.



SSP Sangrur

Dr Sandeep Garg

said the special police team that was investigating the matter after a complaint was recently filed with the Dhuri police station has so far dug out details in which the 14-member gang that includes a woman, had duped a number of policyholders of around Rs 8 crore.

He said while seven persons including a woman have already been arrested, seven other members of the gang were still at large and police teams had been dispatched to nab the accused persons. He said the gang members operated in various parts of Punjab and Haryana and collected data from insurance companies about policyholders. They would then scrutinise this data and identify people who had missed their payment of annual premiums. The gang members would approach these individuals posing as investment agents and would entice them to invest money in ponzy schemes promising them that it would not only ensure a good return on their investments but would also get them a waiver on the annual premium.

Those arrested include mastermind Arun Kumar, Dushyant both residents of Manipmajra near Panchkula, Ekta Sharma, a resident of Panchkula, Jugraj Singh a resident of Amritsar, Shagunpreet Singh, a resident of Zirakpur, Gagandeep Singh, a resident of Chandigarh and Jagraj Singh, a resident of Amritsar.

While the other seven members of the gang who are still at large include Kailash Soni, Sharad Pawar, Abhishek Jain, Aditya Pandir, Vikas Kumar, Mohammad Ramzan Sansari and Bharat Sharma.

The police have so far made a recovery of Rs 13.76 lakh from them along with 113 grams of gold, a car and some mobile phones. The SSP said during interrogation, they have admitted that a total they have so far collected a sum of Rs 2. 68 crores from unsuspecting policyholders. They also managed to dupe a Ludhiana based businessman of Rs 4 crores and another businessman from Haryana of Rs 1.5 crores.

He said following the busting of the gang, they have started receiving more complaints from Punjab and Haryana which were being verified. He said the total fraud could run in several crores of the rupees.