Trail of sudden deaths, hefty insurance payouts: Meerut man at centre of ‘triple murder’ probe arrested

Vishal, who is in his 30s, has been married four times.

Police said the accused’s father, Mukesh Chand Singhal, was allegedly hit by an unknown vehicle and his death registered as an accident in Hapur’s Garhmukteshwar in 2024.

Police said Mukesh, a modest shopkeeper who ran a small photo studio and photostat shop in Meerut, had been covered under 64 insurance policies worth nearly Rs 50 crore between 2018 and 2023. The vehicle that hit Mukesh was never traced and the FIR was eventually closed with a final report.

Investigators later found that nearly Rs 50 lakh from two insurance claims had been deposited into Vishal’s account. They also discovered that days after his father’s death, Vishal had allegedly cleared loans on four newly purchased vehicles — including a Toyota Legender and a Royal Enfield bike — using this money.

Police said it was later discovered during investigation that in 2017, his mother, Prabha Devi, had also allegedly died in a road accident. Police said Vishal then claimed around Rs 25 lakh in insurance money.

Then in 2022, his first wife, Ekta, died under “suspicious circumstances” at a private hospital in Meerut — the same hospital where Mukesh would later die. Following her death, police said around Rs 80 lakh from insurance claims was transferred into Vishal’s account.

“When we began digging into the case, we realised these deaths, which had been registered as accidents or medical issues, showed the same modus operandi — heavy insurance cover, sudden accidental death, and large payouts. This pointed towards planned killings for insurance,” said Sambhal ASP (South) Anukriti Sharma, who has been heading the probe.

In total, he had claimed Rs 1.55 crore as insurance money.

Police said the case came to light when Sambhal Police reopened four closed accident cases earlier this year and stumbled upon what they described as “an organised insurance mafia”.

On January 18, Sambhal Police announced the arrest of 15 accused who, they said, were behind four such killings — two in Sambhal and two in neighbouring Amroha — all previously recorded as accidents and closed with final reports.

“It’s a Rs 100 crore insurance fraud that we have been working on since the start of this year as part of a wider crackdown,” Sharma told The Indian Express.

“In the four murders that had been staged as accidents, every victim had multiple policies in their name. So we wrote to insurance companies across districts, asking for details of claims under suspicious circumstances. Vishal’s case cropped up in that data.”

According to Sharma, insurance companies had in fact flagged Vishal’s claims as suspicious and had been trying to get in touch with the Hapur Police since August 2024.

A major lead came from Vishal’s fourth wife, who told police she had discovered that he had allegedly killed his first wife for insurance money. She fled, fearing he was attempting the same with her — especially since he had taken out insurance policies in her name too.

“He had never told her about his three earlier marriages. When she came to us, it raised further alarm that she might have been the next target,” said Sharma.

Police also suspect the involvement of a private hospital in Meerut, where both Mukesh and Ekta had died. “After an insurance company sent us Mukesh’s medical file, we saw a photograph showing his body without a scratch. We suspect suffocation or poisoning, not an accident. His first wife was admitted for loose motions for eight days and then suddenly she was discharged — only to die of a heart attack a day later. Something felt fishy and the hospital staff might be involved,” Sharma said.

“We called him for questioning. His answers were evasive and inconsistent. By then, we knew this was a triple murder case. We put our findings before Hapur Police, who arrested him on Sunday,” Sharma said.

Vishal was booked on multiple charges including murder, disappearance of evidence, criminal conspiracy among others.

There is, however, no information yet on the fate of Vishal’s second and third wives, police said.

Police said they have also identified Vishal’s “main accomplice,” Satish, and said at least four more associates, including hospital staff, are wanted in the case.

Meanwhile, Sambhal Police said their crackdown on the wider insurance mafia continues. “Such gangs are mostly active in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, but we have cracked cases in other states as well. This scam has become extremely common,” Sharma said.