Dehradun man booked for using ‘fake wife’ to withdraw jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh

DEHRADUN: An FIR has been registered against a Dehradun man accused of presenting another woman as his wife before bank officials to withdraw jewellery worth around Rs 20 lakh that had been mortgaged against a loan.

The case was registered on Saturday on a complaint by Khushbu Devi, a resident of Lucknow. SI Jitendra Kumar said Khushbu alleged that she had married Praveen Kumar in 2009 but has been living with her parents following a domestic dispute. "On Feb 9, when Khushbu received an automated text stating that the mortgaged jewellery had been transferred to her husband's name."

"When she contacted bank, officials informed she had visited branch alongside her husband and signed the necessary documents.

When she insisted that she had never visited the branch and shared her photo, bank confirmed the woman who had accompanied Praveen was someone else," said the SI. A case was filed against Praveen and the unidentified woman under BNS sections 318(4) (cheating) and 319(2) (cheating by personation).