The Kurnool District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed HDFC ERGO to settle a ₹1 crore accidental death claim after ruling that the insurer failed to establish deliberate income concealment in a case where the policyholder died in a road accident.
The Kurnool District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company to pay a ₹1 crore accidental death claim to the nominee of a policyholder who died in a road accident, after ruling that the insurer had not proved any deliberate concealment of income details. The panel also directed the company to pay 9% annual interest on the claim, along with ₹25,000 for mental agony and ₹10,000 towards litigation costs.
The case concerned Gandla Mulaiah, who had bought a Koti Suraksha policy with a sum assured of ₹1 crore. He died on 28 July 2025, and his nominee, Gandla Prameela, later sought the accidental death benefit. HDFC ERGO rejected the claim on 23 October 2025, saying the policyholder had hidden or inflated his income when taking out the cover.
In its order in Consumer Complaint No. 173/2025, the bench of commission president Karanam Kishore Kumar and members N. Narayana Reddy and S. Nazeema Kausar said the records, including the FIR, post-mortem report, inquest report, charge sheet and death certificate, showed that Mulaiah had died in a road accident while the policy was in force. The commission said the insurer had failed to produce convincing evidence that any income discrepancy was intentional or material to the underwriting decision. It added that a mere investigative note or mismatch in income particulars was not enough to establish fraud or suppression of a material fact.
The panel also referred to Supreme Court principles set out in Manmohan Nanda vs United India Assurance Company Limited, and said the rejection amounted to a deficiency in service. The ruling comes amid a series of consumer forum decisions in Andhra Pradesh involving disputed insurance claims, including separate cases in which the Kurnool panel has ordered HDFC-linked insurers to honour other payouts after finding the repudiations unsupported.
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