BHOPAL: A groom and his barat were in for a rude shock when on reaching the wedding venue with the band and baja found the bride and her family missing. The marriage was to be solemnised at a samajik sammelan in Kolar area on Friday.
The man and his family went to the police station to lodge a complaint, but to their surprise, five other grooms were queued up to lodge their complaints.
All the complainants had come from different districts to tie nuptial knots with their chosen one. All of them were promised that their marriage will be solemnized at samajik sammelan or mass marriage function in Bhopal on the day. Most probably , all of them were shown the same girl. The Kolar police have registered a case and started investigation.
According to police, the accused had circulated posters mentioning that they arrange suitable matches for eligible men. Upon being contacted they told the victims that they run a social service organisation and arrange weddings of poor girls.
SHO Kolar Chandrakant Patel said the girl who was passed off as bride and other accomplices involved in the gang are yet to be identified.
The officer said that victims have given them the mobile numbers and other details of the accused and investigation is underway.
A complainant Keshaw Baghel, resident of Dabra, told that he had come across the accused through their posters. He came to Bhopal and contacted them. The accused took Rs 20,000 from him.
A woman Roshani Tiwari introduced a girl to him posing as her mother. Baghel liked the girl and their wedding was fixed for March 25.
Roshni and two other people who introduced themselves as Kuldeep Tiwari and Rinku Sen asked Baghel to come with his family to Kolar in Bhopal on the day where the organization would organize his marriage.
Baghel said he had hired four-wheelers to bring his 8 relatives from Dabra near Gwalior to Bhopal for marriage. But when he reached the given location, he found all ‘family members’ of the girl missing. He tried calling them on the phone, but their mobiles were switched off.
Baghel said all the other ‘grooms’ were duped in similar manner.
SHO Patel said the accused Roshani would pose as the mother of the bride-to-be in front of the victims.
