Meerut, Nov. 29 -- Two men from Delhi were arrested in Hapur for trying to cremate a mannequin, claiming it was the body of an 18-year-old man, police said. Their attempt was part of a plot to secure a fraudulent death certificate and claim a Rs.50 lakh insurance payout.

According to police, Kamal Somani and his associate Ashish Khurana from Delhi's Kailashpuri Colony and Jain Colony reached Hapur's Brijghat cremation ground in a car with what they claimed was a corpse.

After purchasing wood and preparing the pyre, they placed the "body" on it.

Nitin, a municipal employee responsible for recording details of the deceased before issuing a death certificate, grew suspicious when he saw that very few people had accompanied the corpse. Whe...