Ludhiana resident booked for running fake matrimonial bureau

The Ludhiana man and his women accomplices would target those who had placed matrimonial advertisements in newspapers and disappear after charging a registration fee for the fake bureau

A gang is duping people on the pretext of finding a suitable matrimonial match for them or their family members. The gang zeroes in on targets through advertisements published in newspapers.

Ludhiana man running the fake matrimonial bureau would dupe people of around ₹2,000 - ₹4,000 as they knew that few would approach the police over such a petty sum, says police. (Representative Image/HT File)

One Lalit Kumar of Deep Nagar and his unidentified women accomplices have been booked on the complaint of Darshan Kumar of Haibowal.

The complainant said, “I was looking for a suitable match for my son Sahil Garg and had published an advertisement in the newspaper. Later, I received a call from a woman who claimed to be running a marriage bureau. She said they could aid the search provided I paid ₹2,100 as registration fee. I transferred the amount, after which the accused stopped answering my calls.”

The accused had also duped a woman Satinder Kaur of Sirhind of ₹3,000 on the same pretext. Sub-inspector Avtar Singh, said the accused had procured the phone numbers used to commit the fraud and the bank accounts where money was transferred using fake documents.

“They would dupe people of around ₹2,000 - ₹4,000 as they knew that few would approach the police over such a petty sum,” he said.

A case has been registered under Sections 420 (cheating) , 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery on purpose of cheating ) and 471 (use fraudulent document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code.