Mumbai, March 10 Police have arrested nine people, including a government medical officer and four police officers, for allegedly conspiring to obtain a Rs 50 lakh insurance claim from a company by falsely claiming that a man died in a road accident in Jalgaon district, Maharashtra, officials said.
During the investigation, it came to light that the man had actually died due to a liver ailment in 2024, while his family and other accused tried to deceive the private insurance company by forging documents to support their claim that he died in a road accident in 2025, they said.
"This insurance fraud came to light in Chalisgaon, in northern Maharashtra's Jalgaon, where the group of accused allegedly tried to obtain a Rs 50 lakh insurance by creating a false road accident story," a police official said on Tuesday.
The insurance claim was filed by the victim, Rajendra Shalindar Jadhav's wife, Aruna, he said.
According to her claim, Rajendra was travelling on a motorcycle from Dahiwad to Malegaon in the district when an SUV hit his vehicle, causing him serious injuries. He was taken to Chalisgaon Rural Hospital, where he allegedly died during treatment. A case was also registered at the Mehunbare police station in connection with the accident, he said.
However, when the insurance company investigated the claim, it found many discrepancies. The investigation revealed that Rajendra Jadhav actually died in February 2024, the police official added.
It was also found that the real cause of his death was severe liver disease, not an accident, as was claimed. Furthermore, the date of death mentioned on a photo kept at his home was February 23, 2024. His death was not recorded in the gram panchayat's register, he said.
During the investigation, it was also found that insurance policies were taken in the name of the deceased, Rajendra Jadhav, from around 10 companies. This indicated a planned conspiracy to claim insurance money using a fake accident case.
After a thorough investigation, police registered a case of fraud against the deceased's wife, his brother Mithun Jadhav, medical officer of Chalisgaon Rural Hospital Mandar Karamblekar, police personnel Mahendra Patil, Sunil Nikam, Ravindra Battise and Sachin Nikam, along with insurance agents Praveen Patil and Prem Patil, and they were arrested on Sunday, he said.
Investigators believe that the group tried to claim about Rs 7.5 crore from multiple insurance companies by adopting this modus operandi, he said.
The fraud was exposed because an insurance officer carefully checked the claim and noticed inconsistencies, which led to the investigation, the official added.