B'luru duo arrested for fake insurance, registration papers

A city duo creating and selling fake documents looking like genuine motor vehicle insurance and registration cards has been arrested, an official said on Wednesday.

"Sridhar, 29, cab driver and Santosh, 20, RTO broker, have been arrested for creating and selling the fake documents," Central Crime Branch (CCB) Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Kuldeep Jain told IANS.

The two were arrested under IPC Sections 420, 468 and 471, pertaining to forgery. They are in judicial custody after they were produced in a local court.

Explaining their modus operandi, Jain said Sridhar, the cab driver, created a fake vehicle insurance policy document when his car's insurance got expired.

"He first tried it on himself and easily got away when stopped by the traffic police. The documents looked like original and the police let him go," he said.

On passing the police test, Sridhar and Santosh identified a way to make money creating such fake documents and vehicle registration cards.

"It will cost some Rs 20-25 thousand to buy insurance per year, but the two were selling these fake insurance documents for around Rs 2,000, creating them at home," said Jain.

The fake papers were so well made that the two could replicate the documents of all major insurance companies in the market which easily passed the traffic police test.

Using 60-70 seals, and following the latest format of such papers, the two continued with their "trade" for six months.

Most enforcement agencies would not spend a much time on the genuineness of the documents, he said.

"It was difficult to apprehend the duo. Based on some leads, we raided their home and seized a lot of seals, documents, a printer and a computer," said Jain.

Likewise, Sridhar and Santosh were also creating fake vehicle registration cards by defacing the flip-side of a card and reprinting with new information, mostly for second vehicles.

"A CCB team led by police Inspector Hazresh detected fake insurance and registration card scam. Two accused have been arrested and fake seals, registration cards, insurance policies have been seized. Further investigation is on," tweeted Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil.

Some of the leading insurance companies the two used for creating the fake papers included Tata AIG Insurance, Shriram, Reliance and United India Insurance among others.