New Delhi: An interstate matrimonial fraud gang was busted on Saturday by Delhi Police, leading to the arrests of two men, said police.
According to police, the arrested men allegedly lured divorced women through matrimonial sites and cheated them of their money, jewellery, and mobile phones on the pretext of marriage.
One accused allegedly befriended women and the other helped him by arranging cars with fake number plates to pass him off as a rich man, police officers aware of the case said.
Additional commissioner of police (New Delhi) Devesh Kumar Mahla said the arrests followed a 35-year-old woman from Panipat, Haryana, being duped of her gold jewelry and other items. An FIR was registered at the Parliament Street police station for cheating and fraud on February 17.
The woman told investigators that she met a man named Abhinav Singh, 31, on a matrimonial site a few weeks back. The man befriended her and promised to marry her. He asked her to meet him at a religious site in central Delhi and convinced her to hand over her gold jewellery, two mobile phones, and a bag containing documents for safekeeping. After taking her things, he fled from the spot.
“We registered a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust based on the woman’s complaint and began the probe. Investigators scanned over 200 CCTV cameras which led to the identification and arrest of Singh, and his associate Karan Sharma, 26, a cab driver. Police recovered some of the stolen gold jewellery, ₹64,000 cash, two stolen phones and a Hyundai Verna car,” said Mahla.
Mahla said that during the interrogation, Singh confessed to targeting divorced women across multiple cities, including Panipat and Kalka in Haryana, Noida in Uttar Pradesh, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Ludhiana in Punjab, Jaipur in Rajasthan, and Delhi, using matrimonial websites.
After duping the complainant, the duo mortgaged the jewellery at a “cash for gold” shop in Malviya Nagar for ₹3,00,000, out of which ₹1,00,000 was paid to them. “The owner of the shop is being examined to ascertain the possibility of his role in the crime,” added Mahla.