UNITED INDIA INSURANCE COMPANY LIMITED Vs. RAJ NARAIN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) it pains me to differ from the opinion expressed by my learned Sister, Mrs. Rachna and learned Brother, Mr. Raghunath Prasad, Members, but the facts and law which are on the file overwhelmingly justify my view in this case.

(2.) In the memo of appeal, United India Insurance Company Limited has pleaded that "through uncontroverted facts, documents and independent survey it has been well proved that the theft story is manipulated and the insured has played fraud to claim money from the insurer". The story and the facts formulated by the complainant, Sri Raj Narain, and another appears to be unbelievable on the grounds mentioned below: 1. No doubt the F. I. R. has been lodged but registration of a case is by no means any proof to support the alleged crime.2. The independent Surveyor has given a detailed report with reasoning and good details of the circumstances and the alleged facts. The report of the Surveyor appears to be very reasoned and self-explanatory.3. The insured has no record to substantiate the quantity of items lost in the incident.4. The items found outside the shop were all expired and do not form part of the items lost which raises doubt on the genuineness of the incident of burglary of the stocked items. It is not believable that thieves will find sufficient time to sort out the expired and non-expired medicines. The loss of stock appears to be superfluous and efforts to claim money from the insurer. The insured is a whole-saler but operates as a retailer also without a licence and normally he keeps the medicines which are prescribed by the doctors practising there. The items purchased per prescribed demand are usually purchased from local market to cater to the needs of the patients attending Dr. Tripathi operating from the next shop.5. No burglar would remove the strips from the boxes and take strips only and leave behind the box and such a thing never happened in the past. The burglar had to sell the stock and selling without boxes is a difficult task. Again the burglars certainly will not find sufficient time to remove the medicines from the boxes and throw away the boxes.6. The boxes retained and produced by the insurer were empty boxes after selling the medicines on prescriptions from Dr. Tripathi as the medicines are purchased by the insured from local market for retail selling for which they do not have retail licence. It appears that the insured is putting forward a concocted story for unethical and immoral gain.7. The Surveyor inspected the place of occurrence during day time, but during day time also the place and the shop was appearing inaccessible. Reaching the rear portion of the shop was difficult one and it was full of night-soil which came in contact with the feet of the person going there. It is such a dirty place full of night-soil that no human being would try to attempt for the petty theft. The area is used by the local people for satisfying the call of nature, for discharging night soils, etc.8. The bricks removed by the burglars and mud was lying on the exterior portion and there was no brick inside the shop. This suggests that either the thieves had been extra cautious for the removal of bricks or the bricks have been removed from inside the shop. It is quite unnatural proposition to accept this incident because the burglars while trying to break the wall, the bricks or mud will fall inside the shop or room also and not only outside. It may be exceptionally possible that if there was only mud wall, most of the mud of the wall is removed outside during the crime, but this is not the case here. The wall of the shop was constructed of bricks and when the wall of the shop is made of bricks, then certainly most of the bricks or atleast some of the bricks must have been found inside the shop and not only outside the shop. In such dirty and filthy area, it is not natural for even a burglar to sit in a relaxed mood and replace bricks one by one and keep outside very neatly.9. The statement of loss appears to be fictitious and the Surveyor also has drawn same inference. There is no record for showing cash in the shop. The Surveyor laboured hard to show some imaginary figures of alleged stock loss but the Surveyor does not appear to be satisfied with the story of loss. Earlier also the incidence of theft has been alleged and this also makes the alleged incidence concocted.

(3.) The Surveyor's report appears to be factual, neutral and reliable. The story of theft is concocted and fictitious and there is no evidence to support it. Hence the appeal of the Insurance Company appears to be on sound footing and it should be allowed.