In Ahmedabad, a special CBI court has convicted two men in a long-running case of fraudulent fire insurance claims dating back nearly 20 years. On Tuesday, the court sentenced Rashik J. Patel Dalsaniya and Sanjay Ramesh Chitre to five years of rigorous imprisonment each, plus a total fine of Rs 60 lakh.
Dalsaniya, a partner at M/s Mira Chemicals, and Chitre, owner of M/s S.R. Chitre and Co., face charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and using fake documents. The court hit Dalsaniya with a Rs 45 lakh fine and Chitre with Rs 15 lakh.
The trouble started on January 20, 2002, when a fire ripped through Mira Chemicals’ factory in Gujarat’s GIDC area in Panoli, Bharuch district. The company quickly filed a claim with United India Insurance Company Ltd (UIICL). Chitre, hired as the surveyor, put the damage at Rs 36.92 lakh. UIICL approved it after checks and paid out Rs 36.86 lakh.
But a CBI investigation launched in June 2006 by the agency’s Gandhinagar unit uncovered the scam. Investigators found that the pair had submitted forged documents, like fake bills and vouchers, to inflate the losses and pocket extra money. “The fraud involved exaggerating the damage and reinstallation costs to get that undue payout,” the CBI explained in a statement.
Prosecutors filed two charge sheets: one targeting Dalsaniya and Chitre, and another against several UIICL officials, including former divisional and regional managers, for charges like criminal misconduct and forgery.
During the trial, the court heard from 34 witnesses and reviewed 234 documents. It found solid evidence against Dalsaniya and Chitre, leading to their conviction. However, the judge acquitted all the UIICL public servants. One accused, a retired manager named Cherukatkochu Gopalan, died during the proceedings, so charges against him ended.
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