In a shocking incident, a man killed four piglets and produced fake death certificates to claim insurance money in Surat.

Police on Thursday arrested Ramesh Patel. "Ramesh Patel, a vegetable vendor, concocted evidence that his ‘daughters’ were charred to death in a fire at his house in Mulad village of Mahuva tehsil in the district and applied for Rs 20 lakh of insurance money from LIC", police said.

"He had bought the insurance policy of Rs 5 lakh each in the name of four non-existent daughters using fake photographs and documents including birth certificates. The certificates showed that the girls were aged between 8 to 12 years. On March 13, Patel set his house on fire using a leaking gas cylinder and made the insurance claim", Surat (rural) Superintendent of Police Nirlipt Rai said.

"To create evidence of charred bodies, he had put four pigs in the house before torching it", the SP said. He added that "in reality, Patel, who is married, has no daughter of his own."

Police originally filed a case of unexpected death of four sisters after the fire but found that it was all fake.

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BY M. DIVYA SRI