Price of policy: One life, one immolation

ANMOL JEEVAN: This was the insurance policy that Lakhan Lal’s alleged murderer and an insurance agent had got for Lal on April 28, 2005. And, this is the policy that the police say, provides the basis for the belief that Rohit and Lal’s wife Vidyawati were having an affair and that they conspired to murder the poor, simple and unsuspecting peasant. 

Lal’s wife Vidyawati had reportedly persuaded him to take the policy. After this, Lal had become the first person in his as well as nearby villages to own an insurance policy with a risk-coverage of Rs 10 lakh.

The police probing the murder case had found papers of the policy from Lal’s house, immediately after the recovery of his body on May 17. Two installments (2005-2006) of the policy had already been paid. Sources in the LIC said that Anmol Jeevan is a term insurance policy. This means that the policy simply covers the risk factor.

“Assuming you take this plan and let’s say, pay our premium for the entire policy period which could be anywhere between 20 to 25 years. After the expiry of the policy period, you do not get any money back for it just covers the risk to life,” said a senior LIC official.  But, the official said that in case of death of the person concerned, the nominee gets the entire amount. Vidyawati was the nominee in Lal’s policy.  By persuading Lal to take the policy, both Rohit and Vidyawati’s game plan apparently was clear. Eliminate Lal, get the policy benefit and live happily together ever after.

The game plan went awry after Vidyawati’s mysterious immolation on her husband’s funeral pyre on Thursday evening.

However, LIC sources said that even after the nominee’s death, the amount could have gone to Lal’s son and two daughters after the succession claim was validated in the court. It’s significant that Lal’s son Neeraj was also arrested by the police on Saturday. “For us, he, too, is a suspect in the case,” Fatehpur Superintendent of police V B Singh told HT on Saturday.

And Lal’s two daughters, Arti and Puja, have been missing ever since the murder took place. Lakhan Lal’s brother-in-law Devi Dayal said that Vidyawati’s brother was present when Lal’s mortal remains were consigned to flames. “It’s possible that he may have taken them along,” he said. 

But, even if Vidyawati were alive, the LIC sources say, there were healthy chances that the said amount might not have been given to the wife or after her, to her children. The police suspect that Rohit had got the policy for Lal after tampering with the facts.

“Any policy is given keeping the person’s status and his earning in mind,” sources said. Lal was a poor peasant who could not have justified the yearly premium that he had paid twice. The LIC, in all probability, would have rejected the policy claim.

It was an investment in futility and a murder-most-foul.