42 grooms for 0 brides: Mass wedding con in MP’s Dewas leaves baraatis high & dry

Indore: Forty-two grooms from different parts of Madhya Pradesh arrived in Dewas on Sunday for a mass marriage, with their faces not exuding the brightness of their gleaming sherwanis but coloured in confusion. Some came in hired cars with relatives packed inside. Some carried quiet excitement.

Most had been instructed not to apply haldi, arrange wedding clothes, or worry about ceremonies as everything — from an Indore bride to the wedding stage — were to be ‘managed’ at a mass marriage function near Mata Tekri.

By midnight, however, the baraatis (wedding guests) turned into complainants.

In one of the strangest marriage frauds reported from Madhya Pradesh, dozens of families from districts including Bhopal, Dewas and nearby areas alleged they were duped by a gang that promised marriages with girls from an Indore orphanage and collected anywhere between Rs 12,000 and Rs 20,000 from the kin of each groom.

The accused allegedly sold the wedding dream with remarkable detail. Families were told the chosen brides were from Indore’s Matru Chhaya Ashram. Registration fees were taken, wedding dates fixed and photos of prospective brides circulated on WhatsApp. There was even talk of dowry items being handed over after the ceremony.

However, in what later turned out to be a cruel anti-climax, the police said the ‘brides’ were images of random faces lifted from social media.

When families reached the venue around 8 am on Sunday, the organisers — Mukesh Bairagi and his wife Sunita — assured everyone that the brides were “on their way from Indore”.

Everybody played along, excited for the wedding hour, as neither the grooms nor their kin saw through the ruse.

However, by 10 pm, patience made way for panic and anger.

Some families realised they had travelled hundreds of kilometres for a wedding where there was no bride, no priest, no ceremony and, perhaps, never any intention of hosting one.

Rahul Meena from Harnyakalan said his family was told a girl from an orphanage would be married to him after registration formalities were completed online. “Whenever we asked for photographs, they would send pictures downloaded from social media,” he alleged.

Another groom, Ashok, said organisers specifically instructed them to come in plain clothes because wedding attire and rituals would be arranged at the venue itself. “They even told us not to apply haldi or mehendi beforehand,” he said.

Omprakash Prajapati, who came from Bhopal, said his family had selected a bride based on the pictures shared on mobile phones. “We were told the marriage would be solemnised at Mata Tekri,” he said.

By late night, the crowd erupted in protest, forcing police intervention. Mukesh Bairagi, Sunita and several other complainants were brought to the police station for questioning.

During interrogation, Mukesh allegedly told police that his elder brother Dinesh Das Bairagi, based in Indore, claimed he was arranging marriages of girls from an orphanage and had provided contact numbers of prospective grooms. Mukesh further claimed that after the families arrived in Dewas, Dinesh kept assuring him over phone that he was arriving with the brides, before eventually switching off his mobile phone.

Police said Mukesh also named his father-in-law, Narsingh Das Bairagi, as party to the con, alleging he helped connect families with the organisers.

Chief superintendent of police (CSP) Sumit Agarwal said a case was registered at Bank Note Press police station against Mukesh Bairagi, Sunita Bairagi, Dinesh Bairagi and Narsingh Das Bairagi.

Mukesh and Sunita and Nar Singh were arrested, while police teams were dispatched to trace the remaining accused.

“It was found that they duped 13 people of Rs 1.76 lakh (on the pretext of marriage). We are trying to recover the amount and initiating further action,” Agarwal said.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Bakrid wishes, messages and eid 2026