The Navi Mumbai cyber police have apprehended a 30-year-old man from Delhi for allegedly defrauding a homemaker from Vashi of Rs 61.46 lakh in an insurance policy scam. Authorities have also issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against the suspected mastermind, who is believed to have escaped to Dubai.
Arrest and Investigation Details
Senior Inspector Vishal Patil identified the arrested individual as Shahrukh Mehtab Khan, a cloth merchant by profession. Based on technical surveillance and mobile tower location analysis, the cyber police tracked Khan to Ambedkar Nagar in Faridabad and took him into custody on May 22.
Patil stated that investigators traced the complainant's transactions and discovered that the money she transferred was funneled through multiple bank accounts, indicating the involvement of additional suspects. “We have succeeded in freezing Rs 25 lakh in some bank accounts of the accused and have obtained a court order for reverting the amount to the complainant’s account,” he added.
Modus Operandi of the Fraud
According to police, Khan contacted the homemaker on July 1 last year, pretending to be “Sanjay Kumar Ambasta” from the NPCI office. He claimed that she had four insurance policies in her name and gained her trust by sharing an old policy number. He then offered her a reimbursement if she surrendered the policies. Under the pretext of processing the surrender, he allegedly sent forged documents, including the Insurance Ombudsman’s Agent Code Deactivate form bearing logos of IRDAI and NPCI’s NEFT mandate form. The woman submitted the forms along with her bank details.
Between August 18 last year and April 8 this year, Khan and his associates convinced her to transfer Rs 61.46 lakh as processing charges. When no reimbursement was received, she filed a complaint on the cyber crime portal. Subsequently, an FIR was registered under relevant sections of the BNS and IT Act.
