E-Paper
Odisha woman arrested for marrying multiple men through different Aadhaar ID
The investigating officer of the case, Binita Toppo, said from the preliminary investigation it has been found that the woman married four times.
A 32-year-old woman of Odisha's Sundargarh district has been arrested by police in Kalahandi district on charges of marrying multiple men and duping them.
Kalahandi superintendent of police Dr Vivek M Saravana said the police arrested Elee Mahanta of Sundargarh district following complaints that she married at least three men after the death of her husband.
"She assumed multiple names after the death of her husband Kumudbandhu Patel in 2011. She then prepared an Aadhaar card in the name of Sindhumati Munda in September 2013 and married a person named Rajendra Das the same month. After the marriage, she visited her relatives at village Sarangarh of Chhatisgarh where she met a 51-year-old woman named Manju alias Mina Gutpa who taught her how to cheat people in the name of marriage," said Saravana.
A few years later, she divorced Das and got a new Aadhaar card in the name of Elee Mahanta in May 2018. She again married another person.
Also read: BJP's Rakesh Singh, named by Pamela Goswami in drugs case, arrested in Kolkata
In June 2020, she again got a new Aadhar card made in the name of Mamata Agarwal and married a man called Bikash Jain of Kalahandi district in October. “Her associate, Birbal Sharma, played the role of a mediator in the marriage and took ₹4 lakh from Bikash's family members as his mediation fees. The gang also arranged a visit of the groom's family to Sundargarh and made it look like as if she belonged to some Marwari family," said the SP.
Police said the modus operandi of the gang was to target elderly or divorced men. "While Elee used to be the prospective bride, the three others used to act as her mother, father and uncle. They used to share the loot. When we raided the place, we found all of them there," said the SP.
The investigating officer of the case, Binita Toppo, said from the preliminary investigation it has been found that the woman married four times. "We suspect the number may rise further. Many people, who were cheated by them, are not approaching us fearing social stigma. We urge them to register a complaint,” said Toppo.
Apart from Mahant, others who were arrested include Birbal Sharma (60), Manju alias Mina Gupta (51) and Sraban Soni (36).
Police officials said the case seemed to be straight out of Sonam Kapoor-starrer 2015 Bollywood movie 'Dolly ki Doli' wherein Dolly, a young con artist, marries men from different religions and runs away with their wealth on the night of the wedding. Her entire family consisted of con artists. After conning several rich men, she gets media attention and labels her as "looteri dulhan".
