'Dead' Man Gets Wife Arrested For Faking His Death To Obtain Insurance Money

A man, who was believed to be dead, walked into a police station in India recently, and filed a complaint saying his wife had forged his death certificate and committed insurance fraud with it.

The incident took place in Ahmedabad, a city in the state of Gujarat. The man, identified as Nimesh Marathi, told the police his wife had dumped him, and later obtained his fake death certificate to get the $24,000 insurance money. The 45-year-old woman, Nanda, was arrested Thursday after her husband came to know about the fraud.

The police arrested Nanda and a doctor, identified as Harikrushna Soni, who helped her obtain the fake death certificate from the city administrative office, The Times of India reported. Soni had allegedly issued a report stating Marathi died of a cardiac arrest on March 6, 2019, following which Nanda claimed the insurance amount from the two private insurance firms.

Marathi, 48, told the police he had purchased two life insurance policies 15 years ago, and his wife was the nominee for both. Three years ago, his wife asked him to go to his native place in Madhya Pradesh because he was jobless.

“Around three years ago, after both of our daughters got married and settled at their houses in Ahmedabad city and Bhavnagar city, my wife told me to go to my native place in Burhanpur of Madhya Pradesh as I did not have any regular income,” he told the police, The Times of India reported.

When he returned three months later, his wife did not allow him to enter the house, and asked him to leave, saying she did not want to stay with an unemployed man, The Indian Express reported.

Marathi eventually ended up living on the streets, and made ends meet by begging. He later found out that his wife declared him dead and obtained insurance money. He then approached the police.

Authorities said both the accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 for fraud, 406 for criminal breach of trust, 465 for forgery, 468 for forgery for purpose of cheating and 120b for criminal conspiracy, The Indian Express reported. It remains unclear if any other family member was aware that Nimesh was alive.