Three held for cheating insurance policy holders

Pune: Three men were arrested on Friday for posing as executives of a public sector insurance company and cheating several people by operating a fake call centre since 2021, said the Shivajinagar police.
Around 150 SIM cards, 30 bank account details, cheque books, 15 cellphones, 21 data registers, 12 ATM cards, five PAN cards, two computers and 35 rubber stamps of different companies were seized during a raid at the trio's facility in Wakdewadi.
Deputy commissioner of police (zone I) Sandeep Singh Gill said, "We have arrested Shankar Pokharkar (42) of Katraj, Mehfuz Mehboob Siddiqui (40) of Aundh and Ashish Mankar (48) of Wagholi. Pokharkar was running the racket with the help of the other two."
Senior inspector Chandrashekhar Sawant and constables Aadesh Chalwadi and Tejas Chopade raided the call centre while investigating a cheating case registered in 2022 by a senior citizen. The complainant had said a person had met him and pretended to be an insurance company's executive. The man had promised more money than the maturity sum of the policy. The so-called executive took Rs5 lakh from the senior citizen, but neither gave any maturity sum nor returned the extra amount taken.
Sawant said, "The trio had the data of an insurance company's policyholders. They knew the maturity dates of the policies held by the customers. They used to make calls to policyholders and promise more than the policy's maturity sum against some extra charges, thus cheating the trusting citizens."
Pokharkar used to work with the insurance company as an agent and it is then that he stole data of the customers, Sawant said, adding, "The trio moved locations of their call centre frequently and kept changing their cellphone numbers to avert any attention."
"We suspect they have cheated many people," Gill said, adding, "Victims may approach the Shivajinagar police with their complaints."
Pune: Three men were arrested on Friday for posing as executives of a public sector insurance company and cheating several people by operating a fake call centre since 2021, said the Shivajinagar police.
Around 150 SIM cards, 30 bank account details, cheque books, 15 cellphones, 21 data registers, 12 ATM cards, five PAN cards, two computers and 35 rubber stamps of different companies were seized during a raid at the trio's facility in Wakdewadi.
Deputy commissioner of police (zone I) Sandeep Singh Gill said, "We have arrested Shankar Pokharkar (42) of Katraj, Mehfuz Mehboob Siddiqui (40) of Aundh and Ashish Mankar (48) of Wagholi. Pokharkar was running the racket with the help of the other two."
Senior inspector Chandrashekhar Sawant and constables Aadesh Chalwadi and Tejas Chopade raided the call centre while investigating a cheating case registered in 2022 by a senior citizen. The complainant had said a person had met him and pretended to be an insurance company's executive. The man had promised more money than the maturity sum of the policy. The so-called executive took Rs5 lakh from the senior citizen, but neither gave any maturity sum nor returned the extra amount taken.
Sawant said, "The trio had the data of an insurance company's policyholders. They knew the maturity dates of the policies held by the customers. They used to make calls to policyholders and promise more than the policy's maturity sum against some extra charges, thus cheating the trusting citizens."
Pokharkar used to work with the insurance company as an agent and it is then that he stole data of the customers, Sawant said, adding, "The trio moved locations of their call centre frequently and kept changing their cellphone numbers to avert any attention."
"We suspect they have cheated many people," Gill said, adding, "Victims may approach the Shivajinagar police with their complaints."