Meerut, a city in western Uttar Pradesh, has been rocked by a shocking case that reads like the script of a crime thriller. At the center of this storm is Vishal Singhal, who, driven by greed and the lure of over ₹100 crore in insurance money, murdered his own mother, wife, and father. With his fourth wife also targeted, the case has unveiled a deep-rooted conspiracy that spanned several years and multiple districts, highlighting both the scale of insurance fraud and glaring lapses in police investigation.
The story began modestly. Vishal’s father, Mukesh Singhal, once ran a small photo studio in Meerut, earning barely ₹25,000 per month. But things took a strange turn when, between 2018 and 2023, Mukesh was insured under 64 policies worth over ₹50 crore. During this period, the family suddenly flaunted wealth, buying luxury vehicles like the Toyota Legender, Nissan Magnite, Brezza, and Royal Enfield—largely through loans backed by anticipated insurance claims. These lavish purchases raised red flags for insurance companies, who soon began probing deeper.
FCRF Launches CCLP Program to Train India’s Next Generation of Cyber Law Practitioners
The First Suspicion: Mother’s Death in 2017
The first tragedy struck on June 22, 2017, when Vishal’s mother, Prabha Devi, died in what was recorded as a road accident in Hapur. Vishal told police he was riding a motorcycle with her when an unidentified vehicle hit them. He walked away with minor injuries, while his mother died on the spot. The police swiftly closed the case as a routine accident, enabling Vishal to claim ₹25 lakh in insurance. What looked like misfortune was, in reality, a cold-blooded murder.
The Pattern Emerges: Wife’s Mysterious Death
In 2022, Vishal’s first wife, Ekta Singhal, suddenly fell ill with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea. After a week of treatment at a renowned Meerut hospital, she died. Vishal wasted no time in claiming ₹80 lakh in insurance, citing illness as the cause of death. Years later, investigations revealed that Ekta’s death was not due to natural causes but carefully orchestrated.
The Crore-Worth Puzzle: Father’s Death and 64 Policies
On April 1, 2025, Vishal admitted his father, Mukesh, to a private hospital. By the next day, Mukesh was dead. Vishal again claimed the cause was a road accident with severe head injuries. Behind this façade, Mukesh’s death was later revealed to be due to suffocation.
By this time, Vishal had already claimed two policies worth ₹50 lakh and was pushing for the remaining ₹50 crore. Insurance firms began coordinating with police after suspecting systematic fraud. Shockingly, despite repeated warnings and even formal letters sent to SSP Meerut in December 2024, local police dismissed these concerns and filed away the complaints.
The Turning Point: Fourth Wife Breaks the Silence
The case took a dramatic turn after Vishal married his fourth wife in February 2024. She soon discovered his disturbing past—several marriages, multiple suspicious deaths, and crores worth of insurance policies. Vishal allegedly told her that his father had cancer and would die soon, asking her to assist in his “planned” death. When she refused, Vishal assaulted her, even attempting to break her spine.
Terrified but determined, she approached her parents for help and wrote a letter directly to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, pleading for justice. Although initially dismissed by Meerut SSP as a “family matter,” her persistence and the involvement of multiple insurance companies forced the case into the hands of Sambhal ASP Anukriti Sharma.
ASP Anukriti Sharma Cracks the Case
Once ASP Sharma took over, the cover-up unraveled. She meticulously examined hospital reports, death certificates, insurance documents, and police files from both Meerut and Hapur. Under sustained interrogation, Vishal confessed to suffocating his wife and father, and to killing his mother by bludgeoning her with a heavy object.
His associate, Satish Kumar, a tailor from Meerut, was also arrested for helping Vishal in the elaborate fraud. Both now face charges of murder, conspiracy, and large-scale insurance fraud.
Police Negligence Under Spotlight
The case not only exposes one man’s monstrous greed but also the institutional negligence of police departments in Meerut and Hapur. Despite repeated complaints, pleas from the fourth wife, and detailed reports by eight different insurance companies, the cases were dismissed or poorly investigated. Orders for reinvestigation were ignored, and cases were recycled with the same findings.
Conclusion
The Meerut insurance scam is a grim reminder of how unchecked greed can dismantle basic human values. It is also a mirror held up to a system where police negligence allows crimes to fester until they spiral beyond control. Had the fourth wife not risked her life to expose the truth—and had ASP Anukriti Sharma not pursued the case with diligence—Vishal Singhal might have continued his killing spree, cashing in on human lives as mere insurance payouts.
