Mumbai : A teenaged boy, who tried to pull off an insurance fraud and was sent to the Dongri correctional home three days before his National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) in July, has scored an impressive 540 marks out of 720. He is, however, still lodged in the home and has been unable to get bail.
Arun was detained by the Jogeshwari police on July 14 for blowing up a courier parcel with a homemade bomb in order to get insurance benefits. Police officials said the idea came to him when he saw a courier company’s ad which said that items damaged during the journey or handling would be reimbursed at the original cost plus 10 percent compensation.
Convinced that he could pull off the fraud, Arun bought the material required to assemble a crude timer bomb. “The intention was to completely destroy the parcel and later declare it as a very expensive one so that he could claim commensurate insurance,” said a police officer.
“On July 12, the teenager booked a courier service to Delhi for a parcel containing electronics parts, which he claimed were valued at ₹9.81 lakh. He initially made fake invoices worth ₹9,81,800 for two computer processors, mobile handsets and memory cards. Using the fake invoices, he bought insurance online,” said senior inspector Satish Tavare of Jogeshwari police station.
The parcel was picked up by the courier agency and, as intended by Arun, exploded hours later at its warehouse in Jogeshwari. Agency staffers extinguished the fire in which, fortunately, no one was hurt. The courier agency, after carrying out a thorough inquiry, reported the incident to the Jogeshwari police the next day.
During the spot panchnama, the police found leftovers of a cheap damaged mobile phone, a half-burnt circuit, some pencil cells and half-burnt firecrackers inside the parcel. It was then that they sensed something was amiss, and after getting details of the sender, despatched a team to Arun’s house in Santacruz. “When he was brought to the police station, he was shocked,” said API Javed Shaikh, the investigating officer of the case. “He did not expect that his crime would get out of hand thus.”
During his interrogation, Arun revealed that he had done this because he wanted quick money to buy an iPhone and an expensive laptop. He was booked in a criminal case which, apart from including sections of the Indian Penal Code for a negligent act endangering human life, also attracted charges under the Explosive Substances Act. Later, he was sent to the Children’s Home in Dongri.
Introverted kid
Arun’s family, which hails from Uttar Pradesh, moved to Mumbai over 20 years ago. His father owns a farsan shop in the western suburbs, and Arun would spend most of his time there. His mother is a housewife.
According to the police, the Class 12 student has been an introvert from childhood with few friends and very limited interaction with his parents. Although he was always interested in pursuing engineering, his father goaded him to think of a more lucrative career in medicine, and made him prepare for the NEET exam.
Arun would often do experiments of one kind or another at home, and it was perhaps his success in those that gave him the confidence to pull off the courier insurance fraud. “He was smart enough to adopt an innovative method to make some quick money, but he was not a professional criminal and hence made some mistakes,” said API Shaikh. “He didn’t stop to think that if the ruse failed, the police would get him since he had booked the courier in his own name and personally handed over the parcel.”
Arun has undergone several sessions of counselling in the Dongri home. The authority paid special attention to him before his NEET exam and provided him with the study material, teachers, facility for e-classes and counselling, and ensured that he remained motivated. “Arun is smart and did well in the exam. He would have done even better if this incident hadn’t taken place,” said an officer from the home.
Struggle to get bail
The Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), based on the evaluation of four psychiatrists and some other factors, has twice rejected the teenager’s bail plea. The psychiatrists, who were roped in for a proper evaluation of Arun’s potential and risk assessment, feel that he still shows signs of indulging in acts that could harm others – which is why the concerned authority believes he needs to spend more time in counselling till he is totally reformed. Primarily, a source revealed, Arun does not believe that what he did was a crime. “He kept telling his counsellors that he had no ‘criminal’ motive and only wanted some quick money, which too he does not want now,” he said. “In his mind he did not equate his fraud with crime.”