About 42 families in Madhya Pradesh, all hailing from different districts, were allegedly scammed over a mass wedding ceremony.
The ‘grooms’ and their families showed up all ready to get married with their sherwanis and sweets at Dewan’s Mata Tehri temple on Sunday.
However, by evening, the men realised that there were no brides and that they had been duped of their money and time.
Police say that the men were entrapped in an elaborate financial fraud and cheating involving a promise of marriage, the Indian Express reported.
Bank Note Press police station in-charge Preeti Katare said. “We have received complaints from several youths. The matter is being investigated seriously. The accused are being identified and traced. We are also verifying the claims related to the orphanage whose name was allegedly used.”
Each of the men at the location had paid between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000 to organise a collective marriage ceremony. They all had also paid a registration fee of Rs 2000 each.
They were first shown photographs of the prospective bride on a mobile phone weeks earlier.
Some men were told that the women were from poor or orphaned backgrounds and were willing to marry immediately.
A case has been registered against suspects Mukesh Bairagi and Sunita, and their kin, Dinesh Bairagi and Narasingh Das Bairagi, in this connection, police said.
One of the accused reportedly went to the venue to inform the men that the bride is on their way.
A senior police officer said that the prime accused, Mukesh, and his wife have been arrested. “We are gathering details about their modus operandi. Since the accused are from Vidisha district, a team has also been sent there to collect further information,” said the officer.
Rahul, one of the men who was scammed, travelled from Harniyakalan village. “Each of us was asked to pay Rs 25,000 as a registration fee. We were told the brides were from Indore’s Matru Chhaya Ashram. When we asked for photographs, the organisers sent us pictures of models downloaded from social media. They told us to reach Dewas a day before the ceremony and assured us that the collective wedding would take place the next morning. They even promised dowry items. But when we reached the venue, nobody was there, and all the phones were eventually switched off,” he said
Ashok, one of the grooms, said that they were “instructed to come in plain clothes because the groom’s attire and all wedding rituals would be arranged there itself." “They specifically told us not to apply haldi or mehendi before arriving because all the rituals would happen at the venue,” he said.
One man had selected a bride from the photographs that were sent on mobile phones.
“We had submitted documents online for my brother’s marriage. After we arrived, the organisers kept telling us that Madam was on the way with the brides, but nobody came until midnight,” said Rajkumari, sister to one of the men. “Several grooms had hired cars to travel here, and many families had invited relatives and guests for the wedding. Everyone was left humiliated.”
