Afghans were holding us to ransom, claims wife of ‘fake death’ fraudster Sanjay Kumar

 
Jailed: Sanjay and Anju Kumar
David Churchill19 June 2014
WEST END FINAL

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The wife of a businessman jailed for faking his own death in a £1.1 million life insurance scam claimed today that he was forced into the hoax by Afghan gangsters holding them to “ransom”.

Anju Kumar, 47, reported husband Sanjay dead to five insurers, saying he had succumbed to illness. Yesterday Mr Kumar, 46, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for fraud after the judge heard how his three children mourned his “demise”.

Mrs Kumar, speaking from the family’s £1 million home in Watford, said she was “sorry and remorseful” for the hoax but claimed her husband did it to protect her and their children.

She said: “What would you do if a gun was being held to your head? It was three men from Afghanistan, due to a sour business deal with my husband’s business partner. Instead of going for him, they must have seen our house and thought we were the easy target.

“They were asking for a huge ransom. Our three cars were smashed outside our house and my tyres slashed. They told us they’d kidnap us. Police were called seven or eight times ... but all they did was take a crime reference.”

Southwark Crown Court heard how in November 2011, Mr Kumar emailed his wife days after landing in Delhi, saying he was seriously ill in hospital. Later, she received a message from a third party reporting he had died from “brain fever” and been cremated.

But the scam — hatched on the back of crippling debts — unravelled after insurance companies Aviva and Scottish Provident became suspicious and launched a probe.

The court heard investigators discovered Mr Kumar had been to hospital but “had nothing more serious than diarrhoea and a viral infection”. They found a bogus death certificate along with fake hospital documents. The crematorium listed did not exist.

Mrs Kumar transferred £1,500 to her husband on November 27, 2011 — two days after she said he had died — which he used to visit tourist attractions. He was arrested in August 2012 after flying back to Britain, under the alias Sanjay Vig, when his cash ran out.

Dc Tom Hill, who led a City of London Police inquiry, said: “The uncovering of one lie exposed several more from the Kumars as they attempted to get their hands on a massive payout.”

The couple have sons aged 19 and 20 and a daughter aged 17. Both admitted fraud. Mrs Kumar was sentenced to five months’ jail, suspended for two years.

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