Delhi Police bust fake marriage racket, arrest three

Delhi Police has busted an alleged fake marriage racket that targeted unmarried men by posing married women as brides and cheating them of large sums of money, arresting three people in connection with the case, an official said on Thursday.

The accused allegedly duped a man from Rajasthan of Rs 6 lakh on the pretext of marriage and were planning to flee with cash and valuables after the ceremony, he said.

The arrested accused have been identified as Lovely alias Lalita (40), her husband Kamal Lohra, and their associate Deepu alias Rakesh Ekka.

Police said efforts are underway to arrest three other accused — Ankit Verma, Deepika and Gopal — who are allegedly part of the racket.

The case came to light after a missing report regarding Lovely was filed at Khyala police station on June 18. A team was formed to trace her and, during technical surveillance and local inquiry, police found that she was in Rajasthan’s Pali district.

Acting on the lead, the team reached Takhatgarh in Pali and traced the woman. During questioning, she revealed that she had been married to Kamal for the last 18 years and had four children, police said.

She further disclosed that she, along with her husband and their associates, had been targeting unmarried men by projecting her as an unmarried woman and arranging sham marriages to extort money.

According to police, on June 1, the accused arranged her marriage with one Shravan Vaishnav, a resident of Rajasthan’s Jalore district, and collected Rs 6 lakh from him, which was later distributed among the gang members.

Investigators said the gang’s plan was to flee from the matrimonial home with cash and valuables after the marriage.

Based on the victim’s complaint and evidence gathered during the probe, an FIR was registered at Khyala police station on June 29 under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Police said the racket’s modus operandi involved identifying unmarried men, posing married women as eligible brides, collecting money in the name of marriage and then disappearing after gaining access to the victims’ homes.

Further investigation is underway to trace the absconding accused and ascertain whether more victims were targeted by the gang, police added.