"Hardeep Dehal claimed personal injury as a result of the staged crash"
Serving Metropolitan Police officer Hardeep Dehal has been found guilty for his role in planning to claim £18,415 fraudulently in a staged ‘crash for cash’ incident involving a Tesco supermarket delivery van.
After the hearing at Southwark Crown Court, officer Dehal was given a 30 months’ custodial sentence with immediate effect.
The staged crash took place on March 11, 2016, and the driver of the Tesco delivery van, Raiyaan Anwar, also admitted to the offence.
The fraudulent incident on the day involved a Citroen car which was being driven in East London in Boxley Street at the Royal Docks. Inside the car were five people, including Dehal as one of the passengers.
Other people in the car included Jagdeep Singh, Yadvinder Singh and Krishna Ghanaseelan.
The planning of the staged crash was such that Anwar would collide the van into the Citreon car, which he did, at around 9.15am.
Anwar then reported the crash incident to Tesco as a genuine accident which he was completely responsible for.
Officer Dehal then made claims for compensation alleging that he had suffered injuries from the crash.
Medical reports with claims of conditions such as severe pain, discomfort, anxiety and stiffness were submitted by Dehal subsequently.
The insurance company of Tesco admitted liability on the basis that the crash had been caused by one of its delivery drivers and that the collision was genuine hitting a car with members of the public in it.
However, the compensation amount of what was going to be paid out to each of the men in the car at the time was still to be determined and agreed.
Before the payments were made a case was built by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) against all of the men involved in this ‘crash for cash’ incident, including officer Hardeep Dehal.
The CPS investigated the incident by analysing telephone data. This included text messages and cell site evidence, which were used to prove all the planning by the men behind the collision of fraud.
The evidence was used by the CPS to reveal that the offenders had exchanged 375 telephone communications between themselves over a period of two months, prior to the crash incident.
Hardeep Dehal was convicted of Conspiracy to Commit Fraud, contrary to Section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977.
Both, Jagdeep Singh and Yadvinder Singh, were acquitted.
Raiyaan Anwar had already pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy on September 17, 2018.
Krishna Ghanaseelan was convicted by a jury in an earlier trial on October 11, 2018
Reacting to the conclusion of the case, Specialist Prosecutor with the CPS Special Crime Division, Busola Johnson, said:
“Hardeep Dehal claimed personal injury as a result of the staged crash and stood to gain thousands of pounds from insurance companies.
“Not only had he meticulously planned the fraudulent crash, but he put himself at risk of real physical harm in the pursuit of insurance money.
“Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime. Payouts based on fraudulent claims lead to increased premiums for ordinary, hard-working people.”
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