MEERUT: A man accused of murdering his first wife, father and mother to claim insurance worth Rs 50 crore has been arrested in Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, after his fourth wife alerted police about a series of suspicious deaths in the family. Vishal Singhal, 37, had already received Rs 1.5 crore in claims and was attempting to file more when police detained him along with his alleged accomplice. Singhal has told police that his second and third wives left him, but the claims are under verification.Singhal, a resident of Gangangar in Meerut, had convinced his fourth wife, Shreya, to sign multiple high-value life insurance policies. Her suspicions grew as she noticed patterns similar to those in reports she had read about an ongoing insurance scam being probed in Sambhal.
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When her concerns were dismissed by the local police in Meerut, she reached out to the Sambhal police, who were already investigating fraud cases involving staged deaths across 11 states. “I noticed Vishal kept pushing me to sign policies, and there were so many past deaths in his family,” Shreya said. “His father had even asked me for help, saying he feared for his life. After he died, I fled to my parents’ home.”Sambhal superintendent of police (SP) Krishna Kant Bishnoi told TOI that the case matched the methods used in the wider scam they were already pursuing. Based on surveillance, bank records and circumstantial evidence, police concluded that Singhal had staged multiple accidents to claim insurance payouts. “He has already claimed Rs 1.5 crore,” Bishnoi said. “The pattern was consistent.”According to investigators, Singhal would take out dozens of life insurance policies in the name of each target, stage a road accident, have the victim admitted to a specific private hospital in Meerut, and then claim the payout. Both his wife and his father died at the same hospital, raising suspicions of medical collusion. Police said they are looking into the hospital’s role in the matter.Singhal’s father, Mukesh, had 64 active policies worth Rs 50 crore in his name when he died. A minor accident report was registered in Hapur in March 2024, stating that he had been injured in a crash while returning from Garhmukteshwar. The insurance claim documents stated that the accident happened around 3pm on March 27, 2023. However, records from Navjeevan Hospital, where he was admitted, show he arrived around 8pm. This and other inconsistencies raised doubts among insurance company investigators.An FIR was filed on Sept 24 by Sanjay Kumar, a representative of one of the insurers. “The description of injuries given by the son and the hospital did not match the post-mortem findings,” he said. “The documents submitted by Vishal contained discrepancies in age and ID details. He also failed to present the vehicle involved or its registration papers.”Hapur SP Kunwar Gyananjay Singh, clarified why the FIR initially listed only cheating and forgery charges. “In the accused’s father’s case, a final report had already been filed and the case was closed,” he said. “Now we have received the court’s permission to reopen the case. After a thorough investigation, BNS sections pertaining to murder and attempt to murder will be added.”Investigators said that they are also examining Singhal’s finances. Sambhal additional SP Anukriti Sharma, who is leading the probe into the broader multi-state scam, said the family’s declared income did not support the annual premium payments, which amounted to nearly Rs 30 lakh. “Just two months before his father’s death, loans on a Toyota Legender, Nissan Magnite, Brezza and a Royal Enfield 350 — all in his name — were procured, which got cleared after his death,” she said.
