Delhi man held in Rs 61L insurance fraud in Navi Mumbai; kingpin flees to Dubai

Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai cyber police have arrested a 30-year-old man from Delhi for allegedly duping a Vashi homemaker of Rs 61.46 lakh in an insurance policy fraud case. Police have also issued a Look Out Circular against the alleged mastermind, who is suspected to have fled to Dubai.Senior inspector Vishal Patil identified the arrested accused as Shahrukh Mehtab Khan, a cloth merchant. Acting on technical surveillance and mobile tower location analysis, the cyber police tracked Khan to Ambedkar Nagar in Faridabad and arrested him on May 22.Patil said investigators traced the complainant’s transactions and found that the money transferred by her was routed through multiple bank accounts, suggesting the involvement of more accused. “We have succeeded in freezing Rs 25 lakh in some bank accounts of the accused and have obtained a court order for reverting the amount to the complainant’s account,” he said.According to police, Khan contacted the homemaker on July 1 last year, posing as “Sanjay Kumar Ambasta” from the NPCI office. Claiming she had four insurance policies in her name, he gained her trust by sharing an old policy number and offered reimbursement if she surrendered them.Under the pretext of processing the surrender, he allegedly sent forged documents, including the Insurance Ombudsman’s Agent Code Deactivate form bearing logos of IRDAI and NPCI’s NEFT mandate form. The woman submitted the forms along with bank details.Police said between August 18 last year and April 8 this year, Khan and his associates convinced her to transfer Rs 61.46 lakh as processing charges. When no reimbursement was received, she filed a complaint on the cyber crime portal, following which an FIR was registered under BNS and IT Act provisions. -- George Mendonca