Delhi: 2 held for staging fake car robberies to get insurance money

Two men have been arrested in Delhi as the police busted a racket that allegedly obtained car loans from banks by producing forged documents and later staged fake robberies to claim the insurance money, police said on Tuesday.

The incident came to light on July 7 after Sumit Jaiswal (26) reported to the K N Katju Marg police station about the theft of his car from outside his house at Sector 16, Rohini, according to the police.

On his complaint, an FIR was registered and an investigation was initiated, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) P K Mishra said when the complainant was questioned on how he managed to arrange money to buy a costly car, he failed to give a satisfactory answer.

"When we corroborated his version with the CCTV footage and checked with our sources, we got to know that no such incident of robbery as narrated by the complainant had actually taken place," the DCP said.

The data collected from various banks and financial institutions also indicated Jaiswal's involvement in the crime, he said.

During interrogation, it was revealed that he had purchased the vehicle with the help of Raj Kumar Gupta (36) by obtaining a car loan from the bank by producing forged documents and fake identifies, the DCP said.

Gupta and Jaiswal, both residents of north Delhi's Wazirabad, cheated various banks along with other gang members using the method, police said.

Being the mastermind of the racket, Gupta forged documents and created fake IDs, while Jaiswal got the loan sanctioned by producing those documents.

After buying a new vehicle on loan, the two, along with other gang members, stage a fake robbery of the newly-purchased vehicle to mislead the police, so they can claim insurance money for the vehicle on the basis of the FIR registered, an official said.

For the car, the accused got a loan of Rs 16 lakh from the bank. Till date, they had cheated banks and received money worth Rs 42 lakh.

Gupta has been a loan defaulter and has previously obtained such car loans at least twice. Jaiswal, who works as a masseur, had a fake ID card showing that he worked for the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), police said.

Jaiswal has been arrested, and Gupta was held from his house in Wazirabad on July 11, the officer said.

Some fake media ID cards, printing machine, plastic cards to make forged Aadhaar, PAN, voter IDs and credit cards were recovered, police said.

Efforts are being made to recover the car and nab other members of the gang, the police said.