Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

CBI arrests two over false insurance claim

V.S. Palaniappan

Retired police officer among two remanded to judicial custody

Coimbatore: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested a retired police inspector and a motor vehicle inspector on charges of facilitating a false insurance claim in an accident case.

The CBI team led by Additional Superintendent of Police M.S. Sundarrajan and Inspector K. Sundarraman, arrested the two and produced them before the Judge of the Special Court for CBI Cases S. Baskaran.

They were later remanded to judicial custody.

According to the prosecution, a speeding vehicle fatally knocked down K. Kumar (37), who was walking along the Namakkal— Tiruchi road, on February 3, 1998.

The Namakkal police had registered a case of hit and run. After ten months, Mani a driver belonging to a Pondicherry-based petro products company surrendered before the police confessing that he was the driver of the lorry involved in the hit and run case causing the death of Mr. Kumar.

The police inspector on February 23, 1999 filed a charge sheet and the driver was levied a fine of Rs. 4,500.

Meanwhile, K. Bhagyalakshmi, wife of the deceased, her two children and in-laws moved the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal seeking a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh. The tribunal presiding officer G. Manjula ordered a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh.

The National Insurance Company went on appeal before the Madras High Court expressing suspicion in the investigations and claimed that the records furnished in support of the accident were false.

The High Court first ordered an investigation by the CB-CID, which confirmed the findings of the investigation. Expressing dissatisfaction, the insurance firm went on an appeal, seeking a CBI inquiry into the case. On July 21, 2006, the High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into 15 such cases.

The CBI team concluded that the documents issued by the Motor Vehicles Inspector, M. Manakumar regarding the accident were bogus and also held the retired Police Inspector, M. Ranganathan responsible for facilitating a false claim.

It registered a case against the duo under sections 120-B (Conspiracy), 420 (Cheating), 468 (forging a document for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code.

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