Mumbai: Two booked for selling fake insurance policies on bank premises

The ICICI Bank branch on Mahakali Caves Road in Andheri East

ICICI Bank has registered an FIR against two former employees of ICICI Lombard who would sit on the bank premises and are suspected of selling fake insurance policies to customers. The accused created fake ID cards of ICICI Lombard and operated from within the ICICI Bank branch located on Mahakali Caves Road in Andheri East.

The two accused have been identified as Gaurav Shah, a former employee of the ICICI Lombard who resigned in 2022, and his accomplice, Komal Kadam. The FIR was registered based on the complaint of the branch manager Mohammed Javed Khan.

The police said the accused also appointed two individuals - Mayank Barnwal and Sayali Jadhav - as employees on a salary of R18,000 per month and trained them inside the ICICI Bank branches.

Bogus ID cards to gain access

According to the police, Shah and Kadam visited the ICICI Bank branch at Mahakali Caves Road in April 2024. They posed as officials from ICICI Lombard. They showed their fake identity cards of ICICI Lombard and claimed to be part of the ICICI Group. Trusting their credentials, the bank branch manager Khan allowed them access to the branch for customer services. However, due to space constraints, they were later asked to shift to the MIDC or JB Nagar branches in July 2024, after which they stopped visiting the Andheri branch.

A police officer said, "On December 18, Mayank Barnwal who was appointed by the accused, approached Khan stating that he had resigned from the job eight days earlier due to irregular salary payments. He also mentioned that Shah was demanding a refund of two months' salary and asked if such a rule existed. Suspicious, Khan inquired about Shah and discovered that he had resigned from ICICI Lombard two years ago and no such employees existed."

Training and perks

The accused conducted fake interviews for Barnwal and Jadhav on May 16 and May 29, respectively, appointing them as sales executives by providing them with fake offer letters. Training sessions were held at locations such as Growel's 101 Mall in Kandivli East, Nakshatra Green Complex in Naigaon East, and Jadhav's residence in Palghar. They even created a WhatsApp group to share job-related information, sales targets and banking product details, and included a number falsely attributed to Sandeep Bakhshi, managing director of ICICI Bank, to give the scam legitimacy.

A police officer said, "In November 2024, after Barnwal and Jadhav ‘cleared a final examination', the accused took them on a trip to Shimla and Manali, claiming it was organised by ICICI Bank as a perk."

Evidence and payments

CCTV footage from May 16 to May 29 confirmed the presence of Shah and Kadam at the Andheri branch, interacting with Barnwal and Jadhav. They also used a laptop displaying the bank's logo. The investigation revealed that Kadam had no connection with ICICI Bank or ICICI Lombard, and Shah had resigned from ICICI Lombard in 2022. Payments of Rs 18,000 per month were reportedly made to Barnwal through the PhonePe and Google Pay apps.

ICICI says

Speaking with mid-day, branch manager Mohammed Javed Khan said, "We verified the fraudulent activities and found the accused misused our trust and resources, endangering the bank's reputation. We are fully cooperating with the police to take action against the impostors. We handed over CCTV footage to the cops to take action against them."

CopSpeak

Senior Police Inspector Rajiv Chavan of MIDC police station told mid-day, "We have registered an FIR against two people who posed as employees of ICICI Lombard and used fake ID cards. We are investigating why they used fraudulent ID cards and were working from the bank branches. We are scanning CCTV camera footage of the bank's branches to check their activities and are also verifying if they sold any insurance policies to unsuspecting customers."

Rs 18K
Amount paid to individuals who were fraudulently hired