A Telangana government official, who allegedly faked his own death to claim insurance money to the tune of over Rs 7 crore, was arrested along with four others including his wife and two relatives in Medak district, police said on Wednesday.
The prime accused, working as an Assistant Section Officer (ASO) in the Telangana State Secretariat, suffered losses in stock market to the tune of Rs 85 lakh. He hatched a plan along with his wife and relatives and allegedly killed a man and faked his death to claim insurance amount to recover from the losses and to settle his debts, they said.
As part of the plan, the officer and others planned to kill a person resembling him for claiming insurance amount and accordingly he purchased 25 insurance policies worth Rs 7.4 crore in his name over the past one year, police said.
Police had earlier booked a case of suspicious death and took up investigations from all angles after a charred body of a man was found in a completely burnt car in a gorge on the outskirts of Venkatapur village of the district.
The government employee, was initially believed to be the deceased person, based on the ID card found in a bag, and he was identified as a 44-year-old man, working as an Assistant Section Officer in Telangana State Secretariat at Hyderabad.
During the course of investigation, police however, found that the employee is alive and that he "faked" his death to claim insurance money. He was taken into custody on Tuesday and formally arrested along with four others including his wife and two relatives, police said.
As part of the plan, on January 8, the ASO along with another accused asked a man near Nizamabad railway station, who resembled him (ASO) to accompany them on some pretext. The duo made the man shave his head, wear the officer's dress and he was then taken to Venkatapur village, police said.
The ASO then poured petrol inside and outside the car and asked the man to sit in the front row of the car. When he refused, the duo attacked him with an axe and sticks and allegedly killed him, put his body in the car and later set the vehicle on fire, police added.
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