Accident death turns out to be staged murder for insurance money

Kathmandu, July 30: The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) has arrested six individuals on the charge of planning and executing a murder by making it look as if it was an accident to claim Rs. 25 million accidental insurance. 

The arrestees were made public amid a press conference at the Bureau on Friday. On July 29, 2021, Reliance Life Insurance provided a cheque of Rs. 25 million to Sapana Malla, a 21-year-old resident from Ward No. 2 of Kohalpur Municipality in Banke district. 

It was the amount Sapana received after the accidental death of her 21-year-old husband Sarjan BK, a resident of Ward No. 11 of Kohalpur. Sarjan was hit by a mini-bus (Bhe 1 Kha 2491) on April 15, 2021, at an inner ally in Ward No. 6 of Baijanath Rural Municipality in Banke and died while receiving treatment. Sarjan, a manual labourer, was hit when he was returning home on a motorcycle (Bhe 10 Pa 1727) after loading sand in a tipper. 

“After Sarjan’s death, an accidental death case was filed at the Banke District Court on May 10, 2021. On February 8, 2022, the court ruled it as an accident and driver Top Bahadur Chhetri was sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined Rs. 2,000,” read a statement by the CIB.

“The mystery behind the case would not have come into light had the Nepal Reinsurance Company Limited not reached us. They suspected the case and requested us to investigate. During investigation, we found that a plan was executed as Sarjan was insured for accident without his knowledge and was killed to receive insurance money,” said Additional Inspector General of Police (AIGP) Uttam Raj Subedi, director at CIB.

The Nepal Reinsurance Company had lodged a complaint at the CIB on January 14, 2022, stating that Sarjan’s accidental death and disbursement of 

Rs. 24.2 million was suspicious.

“There were several individuals involved in the killing of Sarjan and establishing it as an accident. We have arrested six individuals till date but we suspect involvement of several others as well,” AIGP Subedi told The Rising Nepal.

The plan was hatched by Sanjib Aryal, an employer of Sarjan. Aryal, 31, of Syangja had been living in Kohalpur and he had brought Sapana in contact with Sarjan and the two had a court marriage on March 15, 2021. 

Although Sapana had not truly married Sarjan, she was kept as the primary beneficiary of the insurance. “Sarjan was insured at Reliance Insurance’s Kohalpur branch on March 10, 2021. The same day Sanjib paid the first premium of Rs. 540,000 for Sarjan’s accidental insurance,” CIB’s statement read.

Sarjan was insured through Sardar  Ahmad Khan, a 32-year-old resident of Ward No. 15 of Kohalpur. Khan is an insurance agent for Reliance Insurance Company and the owner of the motorcycle used by Sarjan when he was killed 

by the minibus driven by Top Bahadur.The place where the accident took place was not the route of Top Bahadur. He had come there only to hit Sarjan,” read the statement.

“Sapana and Sarjan were not in contact despite being husband and wife legally. Sapana rather was in contact with Sanjib, the man who received Rs. 8.036 million of the insurance,” said AIGP Subedi.

Similarly, there was another individual who had received a large amount of money from the insurance. Dipak KC, a 38-year-old from Kohalpur, had received Rs. 6 million. Sapana had Rs. 8.689 million in her bank account and had transferred Rs. 1.746 million to the account of her mother Chhabi Kumari Khatri.

The transaction was made through the account of Sapana in Kamana Sewa Development Bank. The account was opened on February 24, 2021 by Sanjib. Sanjib had also opened an account in the same bank for Sarjan on February 17, 2021.

“Sapana came in contact with Sanjib through Lalita Sapkota, a 21-year-old from Ward No. 1 of Kohalpur. Lalita had lured Sapana by assuring her of profit and to send her abroad,” said AIGP Subedi.

AIGP Subedi added, “Sanjib was behind all of this crime. He planned it, may be with Dipak, a man working from behind the scenes as he was in contact with everyone other than the victim. There are other individuals involved in this case as well. We will arrest all the involved individuals soon. There is still more to be revealed in this case.”

The intention behind insuring Sarjan was disclosed after the CIB arrested Sapana on July 25, 2022, from New Delhi airport, India, while she was en-route to Japan. She had a student visa to Japan.

“After Sapana’s arrest, we received much information and arrested five others from different places of Kohalpur, Banke, on July 27,” the CIB statement read. According to AIGP Subedi, they have initiated the investigation under fraud. “They will also be charged under the murder of Sarjan. 

After the case came to light, the CIB has also started investigating into other cases of accidents in which the victims were insured.