A sprawling insurance fraud network operating quietly across the Gwalior-Chambal belt has been exposed, revealing how crores of rupees meant for the poorest families were siphoned off by declaring the living as dead and, in some cases, the dead as alive.
The Economic Offences Wing of MP Police, probing irregular insurance payouts under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, have uncovered an organised racket that allegedly manipulated death records, bank channels and insurance claims with chilling precision.
At the centre of the scam are Deepmala Mishra, Jignesh Prajapati, Naveen Mittal and Pooja Kumari, allegedly aided by former employees of the Birth and Death Registration Branch of the Gwalior Municipal Corporation and officials of Union Bank of India, Sheopur branch.
The modus operandi, investigators say, was both simple and audacious.
Forged death certificates were prepared for people who were very much alive. In some cases, documents showed deceased individuals as living beneficiaries. These falsified records were then routed through bank branches and insurance companies to trigger payouts of Rs 2 lakh per case, the assured amount under PMJJBY.
The money, meant to support families after the death of an earning member, was quietly diverted to members of the racket and their associates.
The first breakthrough came in Sheopur District, where claim data from Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance raised red flags.
Of 50 claims examined, six were scrutinised in detail. Only one turned out to be genuine. In the remaining five cases, investigators found that living individuals had been officially "declared dead" on paper, enabling payouts of Rs 2 lakh each.
The loss in just these five cases stood at Rs 10 lakh. Officials believe this is only a fraction of the total fraud.
As the probe widened, the trail spread across the Gwalior-Chambal division, pulling in claims processed by at least eight insurance companies, including LIC of India, SBI Life Insurance, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, New India Assurance Company and others.
The period under scrutiny spans January 2020 to December 2024, suggesting the fraud ran undetected for years.
Earlier investigations had already led to multiple criminal cases across Gwalior, Morena and Bhind, with names recurring across FIRs an indicator, officials say, of a hardened and repeat-offender network. In some cases, even local government functionaries, including a Gram Panchayat secretary, have been named.
Based on prima facie evidence, offences have been registered under Sections 318, 319, 336, 338, 340 and 61(2) of the Indian Penal Code, 2023, covering cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and related offences.
Investigators say fresh claim data is still coming in from insurance companies, and every suspicious payout is being examined thread by thread. More arrests and cases are likely as the financial trail widens.
The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, designed as a low-cost safety net for the poor with an annual premium of just Rs 436, now finds itself at the centre of a massive abuse of trust.
