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Two women and as many men have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Banda for running a racket of duping single men into marriage and then stealing cash and ornaments from their homes.
According to police, Poonam would pose as the bride and Sanjana Gupta her mother. The two men, Vimalesh Verma and Dharmendra Prajapati, would identify targets and introduce them to Poonam. It is alleged that they would ask the targets to pay them money for the match-making. After a simple court wedding, Poonam would go to the groom's home. On spotting an opportunity, she would steal jewellery and money from his home and flee.
Police have said they got away with six such heists before they targeted the complainant, Shankar Upadhyay. The complainant said he was single and had been looking for a match. Vimalesh approached him and said he would get him married but he must spend about Rs 1.5 lakh. Mr Upadhyay agreed.
On Saturday, the complainant said, Vimalesh called him to court and introduced him to Poonam. They then asked him for Rs 1.5 lakh. Mr Upadhyay smelled a rat and asked for the Aadhaar cards of Poonam and Sanjana, who posed as her mother.
"I suspected from their gestures that they were trying to con me. When I refused to marry, they threatened to get me killed and frame me in false cases. I said I needed time to think and left," Mr Upadhyay said in his complaint.
Shiv Raj, Additional Police Superintendent for Banda, said they had received a complaint that the accused were conning people in the name of marriage. "We immediately alerted our teams and arrested four people, including two women. These people would dupe single men into marriage and then steal ornaments and cash. We have arrested them and further proceedings are on."
Inputs from Maneesh Mishra