Police move against 700 suspect road accident insurance claims worth Rs 60 crore in Madhya Pradesh

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: About 700 insurance claims over road accidents across the state are being treated as suspected frauds. It is alleged that they have caused losses to insurance companies. The claims are worth around Rs 60 crore. Police Headquarters (PHQ) has decided to take action against the suspected fraud.

According to police officers, a syndicate works behind the scenes, manipulating medical records to file fake claims. They say the seriousness of an injury in an accident is determined by the certificates of the doctors who treat the victim.

A network of touts extracts information from police stations and connects victims with doctors willing to issue false certificates. In these certificates, a minor injury is often inflated into a claim of disability at a higher percentage.

For instance, a fracture is at times described as 50 per cent disability, and a leg injury is at times stretched to 70 to 80 per cent.

During cross-examination in court, however, the disability percentage often falls. In several cases, people claiming permanent disability were found riding bikes or walking without support.

Fake claims are a concern, but experts also said that insurance companies delay claims on pretexts. It is said that the companies often delay filing replies in court and cases drag on for months.

They take 4 to 5 hearings to respond, though this should be done in a single hearing. As a result, victims have to wait 6 months or more for justice.

Insurance companies often argue that the FIR was filed late, and in this way avoid paying claims by misleading the court. They cite delays in police investigation, which sometimes run to 8 to 10 days.

These tactics delay compensation and complicate the victim's fight for justice. Experts agree that if insurance companies replied within a month, victims could receive compensation within 3 months.