The commission ruled that allegations of a pre-planned killing did not by themselves justify denying the additional accident benefit, ordering LIC to pay Rs 26.50 lakh plus interest and costs.
The Punjab State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered the Life Insurance Corporation of India to pay an additional accident benefit of Rs 26.50 lakh to the family of a Moga businessman who was murdered in 2020, ruling that the fact the killing was allegedly pre-planned was not, on its own, enough to defeat the claim. The bench, comprising judicial member H P S Mahal and member Kiran Sibal, also awarded Rs 50,000 towards compensation and litigation expenses after finding fault with LIC’s refusal to make the payout.
The case concerned four policies taken out on the life of Tajinder Singh Kambo, whose wife, Ripendeep Kaur Kambo, was named as nominee under each one. LIC had already released the basic death benefit, but declined the extra accident cover. In its rejection letter of April 30, 2021, the insurer relied on material it said came from social media and from a police closure report, arguing that the killing had been arranged in advance and linked to gangster Sukhpreet Singh, also known as Sukha Gill Lamme, as a means of spreading fear in the area.
That reasoning did not persuade the commission. It noted that the supposed dispute between the deceased and the alleged assailants was not backed up by the first information report or by the report of the deputy superintendent of police in Moga. The record, the bench said, did not show earlier threats or communications between the accused and Kambo. The panel drew a distinction between the intent behind a murder and the separate question of whether the resulting death fell within the meaning of accidental death under the policy terms.
The commission also relied on an LIC circular issued in October 2007, which said accident benefit claims should not be withheld where police records did not indicate that the death was self-provoked or that the claimant had played a part in it. Because LIC did not establish that the death was outside the scope of cover, and did not point to an exclusion clause that would justify denial, the panel set aside the district commission’s earlier order and held that the insurer had been deficient in service. It directed LIC to pay the accident benefit with 6 per cent annual interest from April 30, 2021, until payment, with the sum to be divided equally among the three complainants and released within 60 days of the certified order.
The ruling fits a wider pattern in which consumer fora in Punjab and elsewhere have pushed insurers to substantiate claim rejections with clear evidence rather than broad assertions. In recent months, consumer panels in the state have also ordered payments in disputes involving alleged non-disclosure of illness and other objections, underscoring a recurring message that insurers must show why a claim falls outside policy cover before refusing to pay.
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