Did a dead man walk into an insurance office to obtain a life insurance policy? Or did his widow project the dead man as alive to get the policy? The issue arose before a consumer court, which has rejected the insurance claim of the widow, but asked her to approach a civil court.
According to case details, Munna Gopichand Gaekwad obtained a Rs 15 lakh insurance policy from Aviva Life Insurance Co India Ltd on September 5, 2011. Two years later, his widow, Anita Gaekwad claimed the insurance amount intimating the company that her husband had died on July 12, 2013.
The insurance company denied the claim saying that its investigation revealed that Gaekwad had died much before the policy was issued. He had died on April 14, 2011, at a private hospital and the policy was issued in September 2011. The widow approached the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, Ahmedabad (City) and asked if her husband had been dead before the policy was issued, who signed the policy proposal form.
Did the company not verify details, she asked. The company told the consumer court that Gaekwad was known as Chandan Gopichand Gaekwad. Local police records show 6/21/2019 that he had a criminal record. He was alcoholic and died in April 2011 due to a heart attack. Anita’s election card also reflected her husband’s name as Chandan. It was asserted Chandan and Munna were the same person.
After hearing the case, the consumer court said that to decide whether Anita had obtained the policy by using forged documents, a summary trial was needed which the consumer court cannot undertake. The consumer court also noticed that there was another policy claim for Gaekwad’s death, but a day before the judgment, Anita withdrew her complaint. This raised doubts on her claim and hence her complaint was rejected.
