A special CBI court in Ahmedabad has sentenced five individuals, including a former divisional manager of a public sector insurance company, to five years in prison and a total fine of Rs 5.91 crore. The individuals, including Madhusudan B Patel, Pankaj Gupta, and Inderjot Singh, were found guilty of fraudulent payment of insurance brokerage. The case was registered by the CBI in February 2012, accusing Patel and others of issuing various insurance policies and causing loss to the government exchequer and gain to the accused.
The investigation revealed that Patel, as divisional manager of United India Insurance Company Ltd. in Ahmedabad from 2007 to 2010, issued Group Janata Personal Accident Policies as co-insurance business to the Directorate of Insurance, Government Insurance Fund, and GOG. However, these policies were underwritten by Patel using his own user ID and password, and were placed with unauthorized brokers, resulting in a wrongful loss of Rs 2.69 crore to the insurance company and a wrongful gain to the private brokers.
The CBI examined 20 witnesses and presented 61 documents to establish the guilt of the accused. Besides the jail term and fine, the court has also directed the registry to send the order to the departmental head of United India Insurance Company Ltd. and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) for necessary action against the brokers. The court’s order is a significant victory for the CBI in its efforts to curb fraudulent activities in the insurance sector.