Man kills lookalike to fake death, claim Rs 1.51 crore insurance; gets life term

A Haryana man, Rammehar, was sentenced to life for murdering a lookalike, setting the body on fire to fake his death, and attempting to claim Rs 1.51 crore in insurance. His plan unraveled after police found him alive in Chhattisgarh.  

In a shocking case of deception and murder, a Haryana court on Friday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for killing his lookalike, burning the body, and attempting to claim Rs 1.51 crore in insurance by faking his own death. Additional Sessions Judge Gagandeep Mittal delivered the verdict, convicting Rammehar of Data village, along with two accomplices, Rani and Sunita, who were also found guilty in the conspiracy.

The case dates back to October 6, 2020, when Rammehar, facing mounting debts of Rs 1.5 crore after his factory suffered losses during the COVID-19 lockdown, devised a chilling escape plan, Times of India (TOI) reported. Initially contemplating suicide to help his family claim life insurance benefits, he instead took out policies worth Rs 1.1 crore from SBI and Rs 50 lakh from PNB and plotted to fake his own death.

To execute his plan, Rammehar withdrew Rs 11 lakh from Axis Bank and returned to his village, where he befriended Ramlu, a man who closely resembled him, the TOI report said. After luring him into drinking alcohol, he strangled him and set his body ablaze inside a car, hoping authorities would believe he had died.

The ruse fell apart when Rammehar was later found alive in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh. Police investigations, aided by forensic evidence, exposed the fraud. His brother, Amit, had initially reported him missing after a frantic call from Rammehar claiming he was being chased. When police discovered a burnt vehicle with a charred body inside, they suspected foul play. Their suspicions were confirmed when they tracked Rammehar to Chhattisgarh, leading to his arrest and the conviction of his accomplices.