MP: ‘Bride of 15 grooms’ held after 2 years, used to loot ‘hubby’ on ‘suhag raat’

Crime branch of Madhya Pradesh police here on Tuesday arrested a woman for duping 15 men in different parts of the state in the last two years by marrying them and later decamping with the jewelleries given as marriage gifts to the grooms on the “wedding night” itself.

Thirty two-year-old Puja alias Seema Khan, a mother of four children, was a member of a gang that used to lay traps on the prospective grooms looking for brides in matrimonial sites to swindle them by arranging her ‘marriage’ with her, police said.

“The accused woman had been absconding for the last two years. She was finally arrested on Tuesday”, additional commissioner of police Sailendra Singh Chouhan, Bhopal, said.

According to him, the matter came to light when one Kanta Prasad Nath of Kala Pipal in Shajapur district in Madhya Pradesh lodged a complaint in the local police station in May, 2020, alleging fraud on him by the woman.

During the investigation, police received clues about a gang operating in the state to swindle men by arranging their ‘fake marriages’ with the woman.

Mr Nath told the police that one Dinesh Pandey, the alleged gang leader, had contacted him to inform that his family members were keen to hold his relative Puja’s marriage with him. Later, their marriage was solemnised in a temple in Sehore, around 50 km from here.

“On the wedding night, the bride wanted to keep all the jewelleries given to him by his relatives as marriage gifts with her for the safety of the ornaments. Later in the night, a phone came to Mr Nath from Dinesh asking him to send Puja home immediately since his wife needed urgent medical attention,” police said.

Mr Nath allowed her wife to go home without suspecting that she decamped with the jewelleries, police said.

Later, police arrested two gang members, Seema Patidar and Reena alias Sultana.

But, Puja had been absconding for the last two years, police said.

“For each marriage, Puja got `35,000 as her share in the loot”, police said.

Interrogation of the woman by police has led to disclosed that she had duped 14 more men in different districts in the state during the period and fled with their jewelleries on their ‘wedding nights’ making similar excuses, sources said.

“Probe was still on into the case and hence, we cannot reveal much”, the police said.

In a similar incident, one Ramesh Swain was arrested in Odisha in February this year for duping 17 women by marrying them to swindle them by faking him as a doctor.

◗ THIRTY TWO-YEAROLD Puja alias Seema Khan, a mother of four children, was a member of a gang that used to lay traps on the prospective grooms looking for brides in matrimonial sites to swindle them by arranging her “marriage” with her, police said.

◗ INTERROGATION OF the woman by police has led to disclosed that she had duped 14 more men in different districts in the state during the period and fled with their jewelleries on their “wedding nights” making similar excuses, sources said