NATIONAL INSURANCE CO.LTD. Vs. UMMED KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Aggrieved by the order directing the appellant to pay 75% of the insured amount of Rs. 5,60,000/ - with interest @ 12% per annum from 1 -6 -2001 and cost of litigation at Rs. 5,000/ - due to theft of the Complainants vehicle, the appellant -Insurance Company has filed this appeal.

(2.) There is no dispute in between the parties that Bus No. RJ -01 -P 2513 was insured for the period from 14.3.2000 to 13.3.2001. On 18.01.2001, the said vehicle was driven by Shri Durga Lal, the driver from Beawar to Kekri. When the vehicle reached 27 Miles Crossing at about 7.00 p.m., it broke down. The driver informed the Complainant at Gulabpura about the breakdown. The complainant reached at the spot in the night and left Khalasi, namely, Sukhpal to look after the bus during night. The complainant and the driver -Durga Lal returned to Gulabpura to hire the services of some mechanic. When he along with the driver reached the spot in the following morning, the vehicle was found missing and Khalasi had also left the place on the ground of having become ill. Some persons have repaired the vehicle in the night as per information received at the spot. The Complainant filed the complaint in the court of Judicial Magistrate Ist class at Vijay Nagar, District Ajmer, which was sent to S.H.O of P.S. Vijai Nagar under Section 156 (3) Cr. P.C. He filed a claim for the loss of the vehicle. Since insurance claim was not accepted, he filed complaint.

(3.) The Insurance Company claimed that claim of the Complainant was got thoroughly enquired into by Shri Kamal Bhatnagar, Investigator, who on the basis of the statements of the driver and Khalasi and of some other persons, interrogated by him in the course of enquiry, and he came to the conclusion that in view of conflicting and self contradictory statements made by them at different occasions, the claim was liable to be repudiated.