Fake bride racket busted, nine women in police custody

A group of men and women were remanded to the custody of the Pune rural police for duping men in their 30s who were looking to get married by posing as potential matches, marrying them, and fleeing with valuables

A group of men and women were remanded to the custody of the Pune rural police for duping men in their 30s who were looking to get married by posing as potential matches, marrying them, and fleeing with valuables.

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The gang of women was caught when their latest victim got suspicious of his new bride’s behaviour only to find that she had been married twice before and has two children, according to the police.

“These women have verbally agreed that they have done this with men in Uruli, Khed, and Hadapsar. There might be 10 to 11 victims in total. They were in Divad when they were arrested to bring back the bride after stealing money from her husband’s house. The group also had two other women with them who were supposed to meet with two potential victims,” said senior police inspector Padmakar Ghanwat of Pune rural police local crime branch.

The police have nine women and two men in police custody until February 12 while the police look for more of their victims. A case against them was registered by Pune rural police at Vadgaon Maval police station.

Jyoti Ravindra Patil, (35), a resident of Kesnand phata in Wagholi, Pune was identified as the main accused in the case, according to the rural police.

The woman would look for men in their 30s who were looking to get married and introduced them to women with whom she had pre-plotted to dupe the men of money, according to the police.

“The women would either leave the husband after seven to eight days as per their plan by either taking her back to her parent’s house and refusing to return or the married woman would take advantage of a time when nobody else was in the house and would run away with cash and jewellery. The men did not come forward due to fear of losing social respect,” read a statement from the crime branch of the Pune rural police.

The arrested women were identified as Mahananda Tanaji Kasle (39), a resident of Kalepadal in Hadapsar; Rupali Subhash Banpatte (37), Kalavati Subhash Banpatte (25), Sarika Sanjay Giri (33), all resident of Vadar gully; Swati Dharma Sable (24), a resident of Bhekrainagar in Hadapsar; Mona Nitin Salunkhe (28), a resident of Manjari; Payal Ganesh Sable (28), a resident of Gadad in Khed, according to the police.

The women helped another woman identified as Vidya Satish Khandale pose under the alias of Sonali Machindra Jadhav and accepted a marriage proposal from a man named Ganesh Arjun Sable (32), a resident of Divad in Maval area of Pune.

The man who paid ₹2,40,000 for the wedding to the women who arranged the match grew suspicious of his new bride after he heard her conversations with another man over phone calls, according to the police.

On February 8 when her relatives were supposed to pick her up for her first visit home after the wedding, Sable’s family grew suspicious of the women who arrived in a Tavera car and an autorickshaw along with two men.

The Sable family called the police who arrived home and found ₹20,000 cash in possession of the bride.

The women and two men were then arrested and remanded to police custody by a local court on February 9.