Investigators said Kanojia, 44, who operated an online service centre in the Borasi area, collected Aadhaar, PAN and bank details from account holders and fabricated death certificates along with forged KYC documents. Using these records, false death claims were filed to secure full withdrawals from pension accounts. Police allege he charged victims a 5 percent commission in advance for facilitating the illegal payouts.
The fraud came to light after a suspicious claim was filed in the name of a retired employee of Bhilai Steel Plant. A manager at the insurance firm handling the case noticed discrepancies because the claimant listed as deceased was alive. The company lodged a complaint, prompting a formal investigation.
Officials said the accused exploited withdrawal provisions under the National Pension System, which normally permits subscribers to withdraw up to 60 percent of their corpus while alive, with the remaining 40 percent paid as pension. In case of death, however, the entire amount can be released to the nominee. Police believe the suspects manipulated this rule to claim 100 percent payouts fraudulently.
Preliminary scrutiny of multiple claims revealed recurring red flags, including identical addresses, invalid QR codes on certificates and transactions routed through suspicious bank accounts. Officers seized cash and digital evidence from Kanojia’s possession, which they say corroborates the scheme’s operational pattern.
The probe has also identified the alleged involvement of former insurance employee Rajesh Kumar Thakur, accused of bypassing verification protocols and uploading forged documents to approve claims. He is currently on the run, and search operations are underway.
Additional Superintendent of Police Manishankar Chandra said a case was registered immediately after the complaint and that the main accused has been produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody. He added that teams are working to trace the absconding suspect and identify any wider network.
Investigators are now reviewing additional pension claims to determine whether more fraudulent withdrawals occurred, raising concerns about verification safeguards in digital claim processing systems.
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