Nalgonda: Gang arrested for murdering persons to claim insurance
Gang members claimed Rs 1.59 crore in insurance amount by murdering the six victims and then creating an accident scene to throw the police off track
Published Date - 9 March 2021, 09:01 PM
Nalgonda: In a movie thriller sort of plot, a five-member gang preyed on hapless families that had a sick person or one with vices, took an insurance policy in the name of that person, killed him and painted it as a road accident to play out an insurance fraud, in some cases, with the active participation of the families.
The Nalgonda police arrested the gang on Tuesday which had claimed insurance amounts totalling Rs 1.59 crore, killing six persons it had got insured since 2017 using the same modus operandi. The gang would offer a share of the insurance amount to the family and even pay the premium.
The arrested were Dheeravath Raju, the racket’s kingpin, Kanchi Shiva, Mandadi Sai Sampath, Devireddi Harika and Vemula Kondal, hailing from different villages in Miryalaguda division in the district. The persons murdered by the gang were Sapavath Sakriya of Shunyaphad in Suryapet district, Rupavath Devla of Jetavath thanda, Parangi Somaiah and Dheeravath Lal Singh of Kallepally, Daida Hussein of Kondaprole, and Sapavath Thulya of Ralla Vagu thanda in Nalgonda district.
Producing the gang members before the media at the District Police Office, Superintendent of Police AV Ranganath said the gang members claimed Rs 1.59 crore in insurance amount by murdering the victims and then creating an accident scene to throw the police off track. The gang took out insurance policies from different private companies.
The gang members, he said, would approach families of sick persons and lure them saying if they take a policy in the name of the sick person, they would get a huge amount in insurance money after his death. There were three more such cases in the pipeline that would have meant sure death of three persons, he said. The gang took policies worth Rs 1.8 crore in the names of these three persons and were ready to execute their plan.
Ranganath said the main accused, Raju, had earlier worked in Golden Trust Finance Limited in Nalgonda and learnt the process of claiming insurance policies. He then hatched a plan to make easy money through insurance fraud. On inquiry, it was also found that another 15 persons, including some insurance agents, claim investigation officers and a bank employee, had also helped the gang in claiming the insurance. Police are making efforts to arrest these persons too, he said, adding that Raju was in jail for carrying out a similar plot at Tenali in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.
The gang’s ploy was exposed when police were investigating a hit-and-run on the Adhanki-Narketpally road, in which D Koti Reddy, a native of Kondaprole working in a liquor shop, died. Initially, the victim’s family believed it was an accident but grew suspicious when they noticed injuries on his chest. Following a complaint lodged by the family, the Miryalaguda rural police identified the tractor. They took Raju, who was driving the tractor at the time, into custody. Upon interrogation, Raju confessed to the crime, which led to the arrest of the entire gang before they could claim Koti Reddy’s insurance. Koti Reddy’s wife Harika was allegedly hand in glove with the gang members.
Modus operandi
- Contact families that had a sick person or one with vices
- Lure them saying if he/she is insured, they will get huge amount after his/her death
- Take insurance policy in name of that person
- Kill the insured person, in some cases in cooperation with the families, and painted it as a road accident
- The gang so far claimed Rs 1.59 crore, killing six persons
- It was planning to murder three more persons to claim Rs 1.8 crore
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