Man held for selling fake car insurance policies

The Kandivli police on Thursday arrested a 32-year-old man who allegedly sold fake car insurance policies of Reliance General Insurance Company to at least 13 men and cheated them of lakhs of rupees.

The Kandivli police on Thursday arrested a 32-year-old man who allegedly sold fake car insurance policies of Reliance General Insurance Company to at least 13 men and cheated them of lakhs of rupees.

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The police arrested Ateet Shah from his Dahanukar Wadi residence after one of the victims filed a complaint.

Borivli resident Gaurav Shah, a businessman, bought a second-hand Honda City from a car dealer at Mahavir Nagar, Kandivli (W), in June 2009. When he said he wanted to insure his car, one of the employees suggested Ateet’s name, the police said.

Gaurav claimed Ateet gave him a car insurance policy of Reliance General Insurance Company for up to Rs 70,000 after a payment of Rs 7,119.

Gaurav found out that his car was not in fact insured on April 20, when he met with an accident near Worli. When he took his car for repairs to Hassan Motors in Worli, the employees went through the car insurance documents and found that the policy number did not match with the records provided by the firm.

Gaurav approached the Reliance General Insurance Company head office at Chembur who confirmed that he had been cheated. He then contacted Ateet, who assured him he would pay him back.

After waiting for several days, Gaurav lodged a complaint on Wednesday. “Ateet has admitted to have cheated 13 persons, but we suspect the number could be much more,” said Shinde. “He has been remanded to police custody until June7,” said police sub-inspector Vilas Deshpande.

A spokeperson of Reliance General Insurance said: “We are unaware about the incident and hence cannot comment on it.”