₹6.37 crore fraud case: CBI court in Lucknow hands 10-year-jail to LIC ex-assistant

A CBI court sentenced a former LIC assistant to 10 years for a ₹6.37-crore fraud, along with three accomplices receiving lesser terms.

A CBI court in Lucknow has sentenced a former assistant of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a ₹6.37-crore fraud case involving alleged diversion of LIC funds through forged payment vouchers and cheques, the agency said in a press note issued on Thursday.

According to CBI, the case was registered in, 2012, on a complaint by the then chief manager of LIC’s trans-Gomti branch. (For Representation)

The court on Wednesday convicted and sentenced Pankaj Saxena, the then higher-grade assistant at LIC’s trans-Gomti branch in Jankipuram, and three private persons—Prem Shankar Upadhyay, Rekha Upadhyay and Manish Saxena—in the case, according to the CBI.

Besides the jail term, a fine of ₹5 lakh was also imposed on Saxena. The three private accused were each sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹1.25 lakh, the agency said.

According to the CBI, the case was registered on August 13, 2012, on a complaint by the then chief manager of LIC’s trans-Gomti branch. The agency alleged that between February 2006 and August 2010, the accused, acting in conspiracy, prepared forged payment vouchers and cheques in the names of fake or non-existent policyholders and fraudulently diverted LIC funds. The alleged fraud caused a financial loss of approximately ₹6,37,66,660, the CBI said.

The agency filed a chargesheet on August 21, 2014, against the accused, including officials of LIC’s trans-Gomti branch, it said. The court convicted the four accused after trial and subsequently pronounced the sentences, according to the CBI.