Over a dozen men in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh woke up to discover they had been robbed of jewelry and cash after their ‘weddings’, with their brides missing. The incident involved a marriage scam where men were tricked into marrying ‘runaway brides’ by a gang led by local man Mukesh Gupta. The gang would spend a night with the grooms and then disappear the next morning with their valuables, having charged each victim Rs 1.25 lakh for the match.
The local administration, including former Aligarh mayor Shakuntala Bharti, took notice of the situation after receiving complaints from the deceived grooms. Bharti revealed that the men were lured through social media and phone calls with promises of affordable brides for quick weddings, often timed around Karwa Chauth. Many of the victims hailed from rural areas and were reluctant to report the crimes due to the fear of shame.
In a similar case, Prateek Sharma from Aligarh accused his wife, Shobha, of drugging his family during their Karwa Chauth celebrations and fleeing with cash amounting to nearly Rs 4.01 lakh along with gold jewelry. Sharma disclosed that their marriage, arranged by Mukesh Gupta, echoed the modus operandi of the ‘looteri dulhans’ gang, with Shobha also being a member from Bihar. The police initiated an investigation based on Sharma’s FIR under applicable sections of the law.
These incidents shed light on the alarming trend of marriage fraud orchestrated by organized gangs, prompting authorities to take action against such criminal activities.