CBI court sentences 2 men to 5 years of RI for forgery in settlement of fire insurance claim

Ahmedabad, Sep 23 (PTI) A CBI court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday convicted two persons -- a private firm partner and a surveyor -- and sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for five years in a 2006 case of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery related to settlement of fire insurance claim.

The special judge for CBI cases pronounced the private individuals -- Rashik J Patel and Sanjay Chitre -- guilty and imposed fines of Rs 45 lakh and Rs 15 lakh, respectively, on them besides handing down five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI).

Patel is a partner in a private company, M/s Mira Chemicals, while Chitre is proprietor of another entity, M/s S R Chitre & Co, and worked as a surveyor.

The case was filed on June 6, 2006, against a total of seven people, including the two convicted persons. Other five were officials of United India Insurance Company Ltd (UIICL), out of which four were acquitted and one died during trial, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) statement said.

The case was registered in Gandhinagar on the basis of allegation that UIICL public servants and private persons entered into criminal conspiracy with each other and by abusing their official position extended pecuniary advantage of Rs 36,86,451 in the settlement of fire insurance claim, it said.

Investigation revealed M/s Mira Chemicals, a partnership firm led by Patel, suffered a fire at their factory in GIDC Panoli in Bharuch district on January 20, 2002, resulting in significant damage to the building, equipment, stocks, and chemicals.

The firm reported the incident to UIICL and M/s S.R. Chitre & Co was appointed as the surveyor, who assessed the damage at Rs 36,92,137.

After scrutiny and recommendations from UIICL officials, including the branch and divisional offices, the claim was approved, and payment was made. However, it was revealed in the investigation that forged documents, including fake bills and vouchers, were submitted to exaggerate the damage and reinstallations, leading to fraudulent claims, said the statement.

After investigation, chargesheets were filed on December 31, 2008, and October 28, 2010, against Patel, Chitre, Cherukatkochu Gopalan, retired regional manager UIICL, Kumar Radhakrishnan, then senior divisional manager of UIICL, Sunil Kulshrestha, ADM, UIICL, T A Balaji, then senior manager, UIICL, and Ghanshyam Bhatt, development officer, UIICL, it said.

They were booked on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery for valuable security, forgery for the purpose of cheating, using forged documents as genuine and making or possessing counterfeit seal with intent to commit forgery and criminal misconduct, said the probe agency.

During trial, 34 prosecution witnesses were examined and 234 documents/exhibits were relied on in support of the charges against the accused persons.

"The learned court found merit in the charges against Patel and Chitre, and convicted and sentenced them accordingly (five years of RI)," the statement said.

Four UIICL officials named in the case were acquitted, while their colleague and co-accused, Gopalan, died during trial, it added. PTI PD RSY