Insurance agent booked for duping Malabar Hill family

An insurance agent allegedly defrauded a Malabar Hill couple by providing fake policy documents, leading to a ₹2.5 lakh hospital bill and no coverage.

MUMBAI: An insurance agent has been booked for allegedly defrauding an elderly Malabar Hill couple by providing them fabricated policy documents after accepting insurance premiums from them.

Insurance agent booked for duping Malabar Hill family

Police said the couple had not suspected anything miss until the elderly woman was admitted to hospital for medical treatment. When they approached the hospital’s insurance department, they learnt their so-called policy document had been forged; there was no record of the policy with the insurance company.

According to the Malabar Hill police, the case has been registered on a complaint by Nagendra Sharma, 73, who lives in Malabar Hill with his wife Alka and son Aditya. Sharma told police he had purchased a medical insurance policy from Care Health insurance company in 2021, through an agent identified as Shumaila Ansari.

Sharma said he paid the premiums regularly and Ansari provided them renewal receipts. “On March 5 this year, Alka was admitted to Saifee Hospital for treatment of a spinal cord-related ailment. When the family asked the hospital whether the cashless facility was available on their policy, they were told their policy was not found in the records of the insurance company,” said a police officer.

When the family contacted Ansari, she claimed she was in Dubai to observe Eid and would return soon. She said all the paperwork was in order and they should pay the hospital what it was due. She claimed she would make sure they got their money back after she returned, police said.

Until then, the Sharmas had paid around ₹1.16lakh in premiums and Alka’s hospital bill amounted to ₹2.9 lakh. “We have registered a case under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (cheating) and 336 (forgery) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, against the insurance agent,” said the police officer.

Police advised citizens to check their policy details online on the insurance companies’ portal minimise their chances of being cheated. The Mumbai Crime Branch had busted a similar racket, where the accused had opened an insurance brokerage firm and offered insurance at “cheap rates”. They would offer fake receipts and policy documents to their clients.