Beware of fake vehicle insurance policies. In Ashok Nagar, a former employee of a private insurance firm was issuing fake policies after collecting premiums from the firm's customers.

Ashok Nagar police have registered a case against Kishore Karan K in connection with the case.

According to the police, Karan who joined the insurance firm on Richmond Road on a contract basis, had allegedly cheated around a dozen of his customers.

The number of those cheated could increase, the police suspect. The forgery came to light after one of the customers submitted an insurance policy seeking claims after a motor-vehicle accident.

The company staff was surprised as there was no such policy on record in their database and explained the same to the claimant. The customer then explained to the company staff about Karan, who had collected a premium of Rs 11,913 from him.

However, Karan had already quit the job and left. The firm then cross-checked the customers logged in by Karan and audited it against the total premium collected by the firm finding disparities.

A manager of the insurance firm then filed a police complaint against Karan who is yet to be arrested. "After paying insurance premium and buying a policy document, one should at least get a text message as verification or verify it online to confirm if the policy is genuine," said a senior police officer.

Karan is booked under IPC sections 408 - criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant, 418 - cheating with knowledge that wrongful loss may ensue to person whose interest offender is bound to protect, 465 - forgery, 468 - forgery for the purpose of cheating, and 471 - using forged as a genuine document.