Punjab man kills friend, fakes own death to claim Rs 4 crore insurance payout

Facing losses, a businessman allegedly killed a man here to fake his death and claim insurance money, police said on Wednesday.

Gurpreet Singh of Ramdas Nagar area, his wife Khushdeep Kaur and four others have been arrested for killing Sukhjeet Singh, said Senior Superintendent of Police Ravjot Kaur Grewal.

The matter came to light after Sukhjeet’s wife Jeevandeep Kaur reported him missing, according to police.

Gurpreet had suffered losses in his business and hatched a conspiracy with his wife and four others — Sukhwinder Singh Sangha, Jaspal Singh, Dinesh Kumar and Rajesh Kumar — to fake his death in order to claim insurance money worth Rs 4 crore, the police said.

Gurpreet befriended Sukhjeet, a resident of the Sainpur area, with the intention of killing him. The victim went missing on June 19, following which his wife lodged a police complaint in the matter, they said.

Sukhjeet’s motorcycle and slippers were found near a canal on Patiala road and police initially suspected that he had committed suicide, they added.

Sukhjeet’s wife told police that Gurpreet had been buying her husband liquor for the past few days. When police inquired into this, Gurpreet’s family told them that he had died in a road accident, the police said.

This raised suspicion and Gurpreet’s family was questioned again. It was then found that Gurpreet was alive and had hatched a conspiracy with his wife and others to fake his death to claim insurance money worth Rs 4 crore, they said.

During the investigation, it was found that Gurpreet’s family had lodged a complaint at the Rajpura police station on June 20 claiming he had died in a road accident.

On June 19, Gurpreet spiked Sukhjeet’s drink, causing him to fall unconscious. Then Gurpreet changed his clothes and crushed him under a truck to ensure that he could not be identified, the police said.

Gurpreet’s wife identified Sukhjeet’s mutilated body as that of her husband, they said.