The High Court of Karnataka has asked the State’s Director-General and Inspector-General of Police to take remedial measures to avoid recurrence of incidents involving the police assisting certain individuals to claim motor vehicle accident insurance based on fabricated documents.
The court also requested the State police chief to examine one such incident that occurred in Srirangapatna taluk of Mandya district, in which officials of the jurisdictional police appears to have prima facie contributed their part in filing a “false charge sheet” to assist two persons who had attempted to claim insurance based on fabricated documents.
Justice P.S. Dinesh Kumar passed the order while dismissing an appeal, filed by 32-year-old Mutturaju, a resident of K. Shettihalli in Srirangapatna taluk.
The court also imposed a cost of ₹50,000 on the appellant while observing that “time has come to send a strong message to such claimants”.
The appellant had allegedly suffered injuries when a motorcycle, bearing registration number KA 11 S 1473, belonging to one Chandrashekar, dashed against him on March 17, 2008 on Mysuru–Bengaluru road, and the appellant was treated at the government general hospital at Srirangapatna and K.R. Hospital, Mysuru.
He, however, filed a police complaint about the accident on April 4, 2008. Later, he moved the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal, Srirangapatna, seeking ₹9.90 lakh compensation, but the tribunal dismissed his claim.
The ICICI Insurance Company had pointed out to both the tribunal and the court from the medical records of K.R. Hospital that the injured appellant was brought to the hospital by his relative [husband of the appellant’s sister] Chandrashekar, and also that the owner of the vehicle and appellant’s relative is the same individual.
Interestingly, the Medical Officer of the K.R. Hospital had recorded that the appellant got hit by an “unknown speeding two-wheeler” and the appellant had lodged the police complaint by providing the registration number of the vehicle. Curiously, the police had filed the charge sheet on October 16, 2008 and the rider of the said motorcycle as pleaded guilty.
On pursuing the records, the High Court observed that the appellant and his relative had attempted to fabricate the documents to make a false claim against the insurer while terming the incident as “a glaring case to make unlawful enrichment by the claimant”.