STAR HEALTH Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition is filed for quashing Ext.P1 first information report (FIR) in Crime No. 872/2019 of the Fort Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram.

(2.) The aforesaid case is one registered against the second petitioner, for the offences punishable under Sections 406 and 420 IPC, on the basis of the first information statement given to the police by the third respondent (hereinafter referred to as 'the complainant').

(3.) The material averments in the first information statement given to the police by the complainant are the following: The complainant is a person who hails from Bihar. He has been residing in Thiruvananthapuram for the last eighteen years. He does not know reading and writing Malayalam or English. The complainant was acquainted with Sudhakaran Nair, who is an agent of M/s Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'the insurance company'). At the instance of Sudhakaran Nair, on 14.01.2019, the complainant took an insurance policy of the aforesaid company on payment of Rs.11,516/- as premium for one year. After a period of one month, Sudhakaran Nair entrusted with the complainant, the insurance policy and a treatment card. There was also a list which showed the hospitals where the card could be used by him. On 03.04.2019, the complainant was admitted in the S.P Fort Hospital for conducting surgery for ureteric calculi. The surgery was conducted on 04.04.2019 at 12:00 noon. However, on that date, at 17:49 hours, the complainant received an intimation from the insurance company rejecting his claim for money based on the policy of insurance. The complainant had to remit an amount of Rs.90,000/- in the hospital. The complainant had shown the treatment card at the hospital and the authorities there had told him that the claim would be admissible.