Family, LIC official arrested for cheating insurance firm

The City police have arrested an elderly couple, their daughter and a LIC official for allegedly duping the insurance company with false claims worth Rs 1.4 crore. While investigating the case, the police claimed to have unearthed another 14 fake claims that could have cost the insurance firm Rs 2.5 crore.

It was learnt that Trilok Kantilal Parikh (60) had used fake documents to buy insurance policies. He ran out of luck after a friend, Jagadeesh Chowdary, visited the LIC office at Malleswaram. “Jagadeesh Chowdary had gone to the Malleshwaram LIC office to meet a senior official, Kushal Kumar Katharia (50). He got the shock of his life when he saw his death certificate on the official’s table. Jagadeesh did not confront Katharia then.

Instead, he alerted senior officials of the LIC, who thereafter verified all policies that Katharia had recently claimed citing death of the insurer. This opened a can of worms. The LIC came up with seven fake policies that were recently encashed. They lodged a complaint with the Malleshwaram police,” said S N Siddramappa, DCP (North).

Katharia was subsequently taken into custody. Based on his disclosure, the police arrested Parikh, his wife Vandana T Parikh (58) and their daughter Jasmin T Parikh (35).
The trio had fudged records under various aliases to buy Jeevan Mitra LIC policies through Katharia.

They waited for five years before producing another set of fudged records which showed that the insurer was dead and claimed the insurance amount. Parikh used to create fake ration cards and driving licences with the help of one Syed Yousuf.

Investigations revealed that Trilok Parikh purchased a policy under the alias of Ayyappa, using his own photograph. After five years, he produced a fake death certificate and claimed Rs 14 lakh.

He also bought two policies in his daughter Jasmin’s name, with wife as the nominee. After some years, he produced the death certificate of his daughter and claimed Rs 6 lakh. Parikh bought few other policies under various names using his daughter’s picture and made Rs 42 lakh.

Parikh also bought policies in his son Deevesh’s name. He produced Deevesh’s death certificate and claimed Rs 6.5 lakh. He went to the extent of buying policies in his friends’ name without their knowledge. In the case of Chowdary, Parikh had used his driving licence to buy the policy.

Parikh has been involved in several illegal activities in the City since 1987. Several burglary, assault and robbery cases have been registered against him in the City Market, Chickpet, Ulsoor Gate, Peenya, Yeshwanthpur and Hebbagodi police stations.

City Police Commissioner B G Jyothi Prakash Mirji said in 1994, Parikh was arrested under TADA by the Pahar Gunj police in New Delhi. He was later released in 1999. Parikh and his family had returned to the City in 2000. They were staying at Rajajinagar I, N block.