NICL scam: 13 sentenced to jail

Two retired senior officials of National Insurance Company Limited and 11 others have been awarded varying jail terms by a Delhi court in a Rs 19.62 lakh insurance fraud case.
Special CBI Judge Rakesh Sayal sentenced 73-year-old Moti Lal Mathur to four years in jail and 71-year-old Yas Pal Babbar to three years and six months imprisonment.
The court has directed that out of the fine of Rs 23.30 lakh imposed on all the 13 convicts, Rs 18 lakh be given to NICL as compensation.
CBI had registered a case against 13 persons in January 2001 on a complaint filed by chief visionary officer of NICL, K B Mahapatra.

Mahapatra had alleged that during 1998-99, Babbar, the then Assistant Manager and Mathur, the then Administrative Officer of NIC, Divisional Office, New Delhi had entered into a criminal conspiracy with private persons, surveyors and tracers (investigators) to obtain marine claims amounting to Rs 19.62 lakh in favour of their companies by using "forged and bogus documents".
"In the present case, convict Moti Lal Mathur is the Public Servant who had conspired with co-accused persons in order to obtain marine insurance claims...On the basis of a fictitious consignment and forged documents and by committing criminal misconduct.
"From the circumstances brought on record, it appears that the offences committed by the convicts were premeditated with a motive to illegally gain money. The offences committed in this case were a part of series of different transactions in which similar offences have been committed," the court said.

Of the remaining 11 convicts, five have been awarded four years jail term, five have been sentenced to three years and six months and one has been sentenced to two years imprisonment.