Madhya Pradesh: 42 ‘Aspirant’ Grooms Fall Victim To ‘Bride Scam’, Models From Social Media Shown As Prospective Spouses, Accused Couple Held, 2 Others Absconding

A couple were arrested in connection with the alleged fraud while two other accused were absconding, police said on Monday.

These ‘aspirant’ grooms, drawn from different places of Madhya Pradesh, were promised by the ‘scamsters’ to hold their marriage with the girls from an orphanage in Indore at a mass wedding in the ‘Mata Tekri’ temple in Dewas district in the state on Sunday but neither the organizers nor the brides turned up at the venue, leading them to realize that they were duped, police said on Monday.

A case was registered in the Dewas Bank Note Press police station in this connection late on Sunday night.

The ‘victims’ of the ‘bride scam’ were shown photographs of women, downloaded from social media, to choose their brides, investigating officer Rahul Kumar Parmar said on Monday.

The grooms were made to pay between Rs 12,000 to Rs 20,000 to conduct their marriage at the mass wedding, according to the police.

Besides, they paid a registration fee of Rs 2,000 each, according to the police.

The victims and their family members waited at the venue till 11 pm on Sunday and realized that they were cheated when the promised brides did not show up.

They then created a ruckus at the venue, leading the police to rush to the spot.

A case has been registered against a couple, Mukesh Bairagi and Sunita, and their kin, Dinesh Bairagi and Narasingh Das Bairagi, in this connection, police said.

According to the police, the accused scanned the social media and downloaded photographs of some models and circulated them among these grooms through their mobile phones to select their brides.

The victims were asked to reach Dewas on April 23 and attend the wedding venue at the temple the next day.

One of the accused, Sunita, showed up at the wedding venue in the morning to inform these prospective grooms that the girls were on their way from an orphanage in Indore and they should get ready for the function, Om Prakash Prajapati, one of the victims said.

These grooms were asked not to bring wedding dresses since they will be given the proper marriage clothes at the venue, he said.

“This was the first of its kind scam in the matrimonial market. We have never encountered such a case in our professional career’, a senior police officer said.