Trader who faked death had killed co-villager

Box: Insurance fraud

To fake his own death to claim Rs1.60-crore insurance, Ram Mehar allegedly strangled a co-villager, identified as Ramlu

He placed the body in his car, set it afire and fled to Chhattisgarh

Cops pick holes in his family’s murder and robbery claim and arrested the trader

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, October 10

The police on Saturday identified the body found in the car of the trader who had faked his own murder to claim insurance money.

Lokender Singh, SP, said on October 6, accused Ram Mehar (35) of Data village offered drinks to a co-villager, identified as Ramlu (28). When Ramlu got drunk, he allegedly strangled him. He placed the body inside his car and set it afire. Mehar then fled to Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh in another car.

The SP said in a complaint, the accused family told the police that Mehar had called them to inform that he was in danger as two robbers on a bike were chasing him.

The police launched a search and found the car with a charred body inside it near Mahjat village on the intervening night of October 6 and 7.

The officer said circumstantial evidence at the crime spot led the forensic experts to doubt the occurrence of the incident. “Following a probe, we arrested the trader, who was staying with one of his former factory workers near Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh,” he said.

The accused told the police that he suffered huge losses during the lockdown and was under a debt of about Rs 2 crore. He even contemplated committing suicide, but later hatched a conspiracy to fabricate his own death. He got himself insured for about Rs 1.60 crore in July.

The SP said as per preliminary probe, Mehar was in touch with his two women friends after the incident, but he didn’t contact his family. A local court remanded him to police custody for seven days.