Man, girlfriend held for duping people on pretext of marriage

NOIDA: The Noida police on Friday arrested a 35-year-old man from Ghaziabad and his 24-yearold girlfriend from Dehradun for allegedly duping multiple people of a total of Ra 1 crore on the pretext of marrying them.

To win over the prospective brides and their families, the man used to pledge that he would not take dowry on ₹10 stamp paper.

He used to introduce his girlfriend to these people as his sister.

The two were arrested from the Sector 71 crossing around 5.30am on Friday on the basis of a tip-off, police said.

Noida police said they have, so far, come across five different cases from across Meerut, Noida, Bhopal, Varanasi and Chandigarh, wherein the couple duped the bride’s family.

Police said they were on the lookout for the arrested accused Tarun Kumar Sharma since 2011 and that were was a reward of ₹25,000 for providing clues about the whereabouts of both he and his accomplice, Durga Sharma. Police said the two had met in 2008, when Durga was living with some relatives in Bulandshahr.

Elaborating on their modus operandi, police said they used to target working women from rich families and make fake profiles on matrimonial sites to get in touch with them.

Senior superintendent of police, Noida, Ajay Pal Sharma said, “He would introduce Durga to the families of the prospective brides as his sister and tell them their parents were no more. He showed earnings of more than ₹20 lakh per month. He would win them over further by signing on ₹10 stamp paper, declaring that he won’t take any dowry.”

Once married, the accused would ask the families for large sums of money to invest in either a bogus property deal or a business. After getting the money, the two – Tarun and Durga – would flee, Sharma said.

Maintaining that they are trying to identify other cases they might be involved in, police said the two were on Friday produced before a magistrate’s court, which later sent them to jail.

NOIDA POLICE SAID THEY HAVE, SO FAR, COME ACROSS FIVE DIFFERENT CASES FROM ACROSS MEERUT, NOIDA, BHOPAL, VARANASI AND CHANDIGARH, WHEREIN THE COUPLE DUPED THE BRIDE’S FAMILY