‘Looteri Dulhan' cons Alwar family, decamps with cash, jewellery soon after wedding; 7 held
Prayagraj: The dreams of an Alwar-based family, who solemnised the wedding of their son in Sangam City on Thursday, turned into a nightmare on the same evening. What began as a celebration of love and new beginnings quickly spiralled into a chilling tale of betrayal, deception and theft.
The bride vanished hours after the ceremony, with cash and jewellery.
On Thursday, during the return of baraat to Alwar from the city, the bride stepped out of the car on the pretext of attending nature's call near a petrol pump and escaped. The groom and family searched for the bride and later approached Khuldabad police to lodge a complaint. However, when the family of the groom showed documents, including the Aadhaar card of the bride, to the police, all of them were found to be fake.
Khuldabad police inspector Surendra Verma told TOI, "Akbarpur (Alwar) based Gopal Gujar approached the police on Friday and narrated that he had solemnised his son's marriage at a local temple in Prayagraj and the bride went missing on same day during the return of the baraat."
He also complained that the family of the bride had taken Rs 1.75 lakh from him on the pretext of arranging marriage and gave fake documents, including Aadhaar card.
After lodging the FIR under the appropriate sections of BNS, cops were stunned to know that the 'looteri dulhan', was a mother of four kids and had a list of fake relatives.
The SHO claimed that the groom's family also paid Rs 20,000 to a Rajasthan-based broker who facilitated the match, claiming the bride came from a poor background and needed help with wedding expenses. The marriage was held at a local temple in the city with full fanfare, with all traditional customs and rituals.
Investigations helped the police to bust an interstate 'looteri dulhan' gang and arrest seven of its members, including four 'looteri dulhans', near Ghanshyam Nagar railway crossing on Saturday evening while planning to escape.
Police also seized six fake Aadhaar cards and Rs 35,000 from them.
The arrested persons were identified as Shahana (32) of Tulsi Nagar, Nisha (35) of Peepalgav, Mamta Bhartiya (30) of Jhunsi, Preeti Devi (34) of Peepalgav, Aashif Khan (27) of Shahganj, Mohd Junail (56) of Darashah Ajmal, and Shri Ram Gurjar (31) of Alwar.
The SHO said Shri Ram Gurjar was the broker who brought family to Prayagraj for marriage of Gopal Gurjar's son.
He showed the photo of Shahana, a widow and mother of four kids, and told the family her name was Preeti. When cops checked the details of the Aadhaar card given by the bride, she was found to be Shahana, wife of the late Gulam Nabi. She managed to get a fake Aadhaar card in the name of Preeti.
When cops dealt with Shahana strictly, she spilled the beans and exposed the entire racket, admitting to cheating more than 20 men.
Interestingly, after the 'bidai' of the bride was done, the gang members used to chase the car of the bride and managed to take her back whenever vehicles stopped at a petrol pump for refuelling or the bride asked to attend a nature's call. If this modus operandi failed, they would reach the groom's house within two days of the wedding and insist on 'bidai'.
The racketeers were perfect in playing their roles and responsibilities. While 56-year-old Mohd Zunail used to play the role of the father, Ashrif was assigned the role of the brother. Similarly, Shahana, Nisha, Mamta, and Preeti (who were already married) used to play the role of brides. Investigations also revealed that all racketeers had fake Aadhaar cards, and the relatives who attended the wedding as her maternal uncle and aunt were impostors.
Cops, however, suspect the involvement of a larger gang operating similar cons and are now pursuing leads to identify and apprehend the culprits.
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