An inter-state insurance fraud gang, busted by the Sambhal Police last month, would tamper with the Aadhaar cards of victims to show that they were below the age of 50 when they applied for life insurance under a government scheme and claim the insurance payout of `2 lakh after their deaths, police said Thursday.
This insurance racket, which relied on unsuspecting victims and their families, alongside insurance agents, bank officials and several others, was first reported by The Indian Express on March 2. The police said 19 people, including an ASHA worker, have been arrested in the case so far.
On Thursday, Sambhal Police arrested 34-year-old Vinod.
“The accused changed the date of birth of his father in the Aadhaar card to show he was below the age of 50 to claim the benefits of `2 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,” said Additional Superintendent of Police (Sambhal), Anukriti Sharma.
Only those between the ages of 18 and 50 can enrol under the scheme. The assurance on life terminates after a person turns 55.
The gang operates in 12 states, including in UP, Rajasthan, Delhi and Jharkhand, police said.
“Until now, we were investigating cases where life insurance policies were taken in the names of those who had died or were about to die. The gang would pay the premium for some time and later claim the insurance amount. But this time we have witnessed a new modus operandi,” Sharma told the Indian Express.
She said that when they arrested the accused, they found photos of two Aadhaar cards of his father on his phone. Both cards had different dates of birth.
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“In one Aadhar card, the date of birth of the deceased is January 1 of 1955 and in the other it is July 7 of 1976. Vinod told us that his father’s Aadhaar card was linked with his mobile number. We obtained the information from UIDAI’s official website,” she said.
“When the update history of the deceased’s Aadhaar was checked, it was found that the age related change was made in the deceased’s Aadhaar on June 29 of 2024,” said Sharma. His father died on December 1, 2024.
This change made his father 49 years old — eligible to enrol for the scheme.
“Following the death of his father, Vinod encashed his father’s PMJJY policy in Indian Post Payment Bank. He told us that he had paid someone `3,000 to change his father’s date of birth,” police said in an official statement.
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Sharma, meanwhile, also said that the gang would buy vehicles in the name of people who had died and would then sell them to someone else.
“This came to light after a victim, Chandrasen, a resident of Bahroli Taharpur reached the Bahjoi police station to file a complaint against Vinod and Pravesh. Chandrasen said that his son Dinesh was suffering from a serious illness for two years. Vinod used to visit their house and later bought an insurance policy in his son’s name along with a tractor and a motorcycle, for which he had taken documents from Dinesh’s wife,” police said.
“After Dinesh’s death on February 4, 2023 he kept the money under the PMJJBY scheme and also kept the vehicles,” Chandrasen told the police.
Following the complaint an FIR was registered with Bahjoi police on March 2 under BNS sections 318(4), (cheating), 316(2)(breach of trust), 338(forgery of documents), 340(2)(use of forged documents), 352(breach of peace), 351(3)(criminal intimidation), 336(3)(forgery with intent to defraud) and relevant sections of The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.
