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Groom returns empty-handed as bride, venue ‘disappear’ in U.P.
“As soon as they reached the village, they started searching for the wedding destination they were informed about.”
In a peculiar case, a groom from Chandigarh had to return with his entire group of band, baja, and baraat after they could not find any trace of the wedding destination or the bride in Rahimabad.
After attempting to contact the bride and her father via phone throughout the night and arriving at the provided address, the groom—who had only communicated with her over the phone—was informed by locals that no such person existed.
“The groom has made a written complaint at Rahimabad police station,” said Dharmendra Singh, assistant commissioner of police, Malihabad.
According to Rahimabad station house officer (SHO) Anubhav Singh, the groom, Sonu, who worked in Chandigarh but was originally from Unnao’s Orias Devpur, set out with his baraat on Thursday night and reached Rahimabad’s Hasimpur the same night. “As soon as they reached the village, they started searching for the wedding destination they were informed about. They also tried to reach out to the bride’s family, but none could be contacted. Consequently, the groom and the entire baraat returned after filing a complaint,” said the SHO.
“We kept looking for them the entire night, but we could not find them. When asked by locals, they told us that no one by such names exists,” said the groom, Sonu, in his police complaint.
“We’re yet to lodge an FIR as the complainant provided only nine digits in the phone number on the complaint letter,” said the SHO, adding that the police are trying to reach out to the groom’s family, who claim to have lost about five lakhs over four years, as Sonu had been in touch with the girl and kept sending her money when she needed it.
Sonu told the police that he came in touch with a girl named Kajal in Chandigarh and had even met her. “She told me she belonged to Rahimabad. We developed feelings for each other and decided to marry. I even spoke with her father, Shish Lal, who approved and fixed July 11 as the wedding date,” he explained.
He reported to the police that he last spoke with the girl on July 10, at which point she informed him that she would not be able to talk on the phone since all the wedding preparations had been completed and her relatives had arrived. Later, when he reached with the baraat, her phone was switched off.
