Thane matrimonial site fraud: Married man accused of raping and defrauding woman of Rs 13.6 lakh held

Thane: Kalwa police on Thursday, November 3 arrested a 42-year-old man from Thane for allegedly targeting divorced women on pretext of marrying them and then fleeing with their money. The accused has been identified as Rajesh alias Raj Deshmukh alias Rupesh Shivaji Yashwantrao a resident of Puranik City in Thane. 

Kalwa police officer on Saturday, November 5 while speaking with media during press conference said, "On November 2, a case was filed by a resident of Thane, who is a divorcee, that the accused Rupesh Yashwantrao had allegedly forcefully raped her from 2018 to 2020 on the pretext of marriage. He cheated her to the tunes of Rs 13,60,000."

Manohar Awhad, senior police inspector, Kalwa police station said, " The accused made a fake profile on Bharat matrimonial site as a divorced and was looking for a divorcee woman. The complainant got in touch with him and they became friends. Accused promised the complainant that he will marry her and on the pretext of marry her, he started taking money from her on various occasions. He took somewhere around Rs 13,60,000 from the complainant. Also, from 2018-2020 the accused raped complainant several times forcefully. We understand the seriousness of the matter and formed a team to find the man. With the help of our informers and technical team, we were able to locate the accused in Bhiwandi, Shahapur in Thane district. On November 3, we laid a trap at Kalher in Bhiwandi and arrested him."

Awhad further added, "After arresting him when we interrogated him he confessed to the crime. The accused has cheated several divorced women in same away. Case has been registered against him at Kongaon police station under section 376, 376 (A), 417 and 406 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). A case has been registered at Koperkhairane police station too. The accused is a real estate agent and he from last three years have cheated several women by making fake profile on Bharat Matrimony and Shadi.com matrimonial sites."