Man chops off two of his fingers to collect insurance payout

The Catalan police have arrested a 31-year-old man in Girona for allegedly amputating two of his own fingers in order to collect over €100,000 in insurance money.

The investigation began on February 8, when a child playing in a park near the area of Montilivi found two human fingers, a carving knife and a cutting board covered in blood.

The police used the fingerprints to locate the fingers’ owner, who is a Pakistani entrepreneur living in Girona. A day before the grisly discovery, the man had been admitted to a local hospital, where he claimed that he had accidentally severed his fingers while slicing meat at home.

By the time the remains were found, it was impossible to surgically reattach them to the man’s left hand because of their damaged state.

“We discovered it was an attempt at making easy money,” says police chief

But law enforcement officers were suspicious of the fact that the finger sections were found near a primary healthcare center, and initially suspected the incident might have been connected to a settling of scores.

“Then we discovered that it was an attempt at making easy money,” said Xavier Doménech, head of the Mossos police precinct in Girona.“It was not done out of despair, because the injured man has a functioning business. He renounced part of his own body for financial profit.”

Investigators discovered that the victim had taken out six insurance policies since late 2013, and that he had already started the paperwork to receive compensation for his alleged accident, for a total of around €122,000. It also emerged that this same man collected €24,000 last year from two insurance companies for supposedly losing two fingers on his right hand. These, however, remain in place.

The man was arrested and released two days later pending trial.