Interstate fake marriage racket busted in Sasaram; two arrested

Sasaram: Police have uncovered an interstate fake marriage racket that cheated unsuspecting men of lakhs of rupees by arranging sham weddings and disappearing soon after receiving payments.

The racket operated by fixing marriages over the phone, solemnising symbolic weddings in courts or temples using forged identity documents, and then fleeing with the money. In Rohtas and Kaimur districts, more than a dozen such fake wedding cases have been reported in the last one year.

In a recent case, on Tuesday, a woman posing as the bride has been identified as Anjali Kumari, daughter of late Subhash Baitha and a resident of Karwandia village under Sasaram Muffasil police station. The alleged mastermind of the gang, Saroj Devi, wife of Kisan Chaudhary and a resident of Sisrit village under Dharmpura (Nokha) police station, has also been arrested.

Superintendent of police, Rohtas, Roshan Kumar, said the gang primarily targeted middle-aged and elderly men from other states who were seeking marriage. After finalising matches over the phone, fake weddings were conducted in courts or temples using forged Aadhaar cards and manipulated documents. Once the agreed amount was paid, the bride would flee on one pretext or another.

The latest case came to light after Harchand Ram, a resident of Dhani village in Jalore district of Rajasthan, lodged an FIR at Nauhatta police station on Dec 28. He stated that he married Anjali Kumari on Dec 27 at the Sasaram court and subsequently paid nearly Rs3 lakh to the bride and her associates through cash and online transfers.

According to the complaint, after reaching Sasaram railway station, the bride escaped on a motorcycle on the pretext of going to the bathroom. Subsequent police verification revealed that the address mentioned on her Aadhaar card was false.

Following the registration of the FIR, police constituted a special investigation team and arrestedSaroj Devi Dec 29 from Sisrit village. Based on her disclosure, Anjali was also held on Dec 30 from her residence in Karwandia. Police recovered Rs10,800 in cash and two cellphones from the accused.

The SP said several similar cases have been registered against the gang at different police stations. He said that a similar fraud involving a groom from Morena district in Madhya Pradesh, who was cheated of Rs2.5 lakh, had been reported earlier, indicating the existence of a wider interstate network.

On June 10, police had busted another fake marriage gang in Sasaram and arrested three persons following a complaint by a man from Morena district, MP, who was duped in a similar manner.

In a separate incident in neighbouring Kaimur district, a groom from Hariya was left devastated after his newly wed bride was abducted during their return journey, only to later discover that she was part of a criminal gang running a fake marriage racket.

A senior police officer, on condition of anonymity, said such crimes are increasing due to the skewed sex ratio in Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh, making middle-aged unmarried men particularly vulnerable.