Jai Narain Malik, 67, a resident of Jalvayu Towers in Sector 56, was approached by a private insurance company executive offering a life insurance policy for 20 years.
Though Malik, a retired engineer, was slightly skeptical of his eligibility due to the age factor, the executive convinced him to go for it. Later, the executive filled the form and collected a cheque of Rs25,000 towards the first installment of the policy.
To his utter shock, he learnt that the executive had issued the policy in the name of his daughter, Mrinalini Malik Nain, 40, giving false information about her.
First move
Malik said, "Insurance agent Amit Kumar got an application form filled by me and took away all the relevant documents for preparing the 20-year term policy along with a cheque of Rs25,000. He also took away documents related to my daughter Mrinalini, who is employed with Air India and lives at Vasant Kunj in Delhi. I had introduced her as a nominee of my policy."
According to the fraud victim, the executive had forged the signatures of his daughter in the application form.
Going to court
Enraged over the unfair trade practice, Malik approached the district consumer disputes redressal forum, which directed the insurance company to refund the premium amount along with interest to the applicant and cancel the policy.
The forum has also directed the firm to pay the elderly person with Rs15,000 as a compensation to the harassment and mental agony and Rs3,000 towards litigation charges.
The verdict was delivered by forum president RS Behmani and members Veena Sharma and Mukesh Sharma.
"The firm officials had not only forged the signatures of my daughters but also played with the facts. Despite the fact she is an Air India employee, she was shown as a housewife and with no monthly income. But in reality, she earns an annual salary of Rs9.5 lakh," Malik said.
The verdict was delivered by forum president RS Behmani and members Veena Sharma and Mukesh Sharma.
"The firm officials had not only forged the signatures of my daughters but also played with the facts. Despite the fact she is an Air India employee, she was shown as a housewife and with no monthly income. But in reality, she earns an annual salary of Rs9.5 lakh," Malik said.
Firm doesn’t respond
Although Malik tried to contact the officials of the firm, they did not respond. The company officials turned up in the court just once and the verdict was delivered ex-parte.
In the verdict, the forum president said, the company had wrongly and illegally insured the life of the daughter of the complainant for its own benefit. "It is proved that the company has used unfair trade practice to earn more benefits from a young woman by way of long pursued premium as against her father a senior citizen," the verdict said.
Meanwhile, Amit Kumar, the relationship manager of Kotak Insurance, said there was no question of cancelling the insurance policy.
Not guilty?
He feigned ignorance about the order. "I did not commit anything wrong as I had simply handed over the documents to the back-end office of the company and there looks to be a mistake on their part. However, there is an option for Malik who can get the policy transferred in alternate options such as Kotak Smart Advantage or Kotak Capital Multiplier Plan," he added.
However, Malik is not in a mood to give up. "The company has not bothered to follow the order of cancelling the policy and refunding the premium amount, I am going to file contempt of court case against the company. I also plan to file a criminal case against Amit Kumar for cheating me in the local police station."