A married man poses as a bachelor on a matchmaking website, seeking a bride. Both meet, but after proposing to her, the man refuses to marry the woman and disappears.
Fortunately, in this case, the Thane city police Cyber Crime Cell (CCC) tracked down the man on Tuesday, who turned out to be married. The woman’s father, a powerful politician, however, refused to file a complaint, saying it would “ruin” his daughter’s marriage prospects.
It all started four months ago when the 29-year-old woman, working as an accounts manager in a Thane private firm, put her photograph and profile on www.jeevansathi.com, a reputed matrimonial portal.
Police sub-inspector Ravindra Chavan of the Thane CCC told HT that three days later, the woman received a profile (through email) from another ‘client’. The 30-year-old man, who identified himself as ‘Sahil’, claimed in his profile that he worked as a customs officer at Mundva near Pune. He also left his mobile number and urged the woman to contact him.
The girl responded and a meeting was fixed. After two-three more meetings, the man took the girl to a Badlapur resort where they stayed overnight. The woman had little hesitation, since by that time the man had already proposed to her. “They continued to meet and stayed at the resort on two more occasions,” Cha van added. Finally one day, the woman asked her suitor to meet her father and formally make the marriage proposal. “He refused and then disappeared,” said Chavan.
{{/usCountry}}The girl responded and a meeting was fixed. After two-three more meetings, the man took the girl to a Badlapur resort where they stayed overnight. The woman had little hesitation, since by that time the man had already proposed to her. “They continued to meet and stayed at the resort on two more occasions,” Cha van added. Finally one day, the woman asked her suitor to meet her father and formally make the marriage proposal. “He refused and then disappeared,” said Chavan.
{{/usCountry}}The woman disclosed the story to her father, who started hunting for the man. They soon realised that no one by that name worked with Customs and that his address was fake.
The father-daughter duo finally approached the police on Saturday.
“It was a difficult task to track the man,” said Chavan. However, cyber forensic investigators finally managed to trace the email address. Investigators then nabbed the man from Ambernath.
During questioning, the man admitted to being married for eight years. He works as a computer clerk with a Talegaon-based firm. He told the police that he pretended to be single so that he could have “fun” with women. However, the police have not registered the First information Report (FIR) on the request of the woman’s father.
“Everyday we receive hundreds of profiles from all over on our site. It is not possible to verify the bonafides of claims made in each profile. In fact, we clearly mention the terms and conditions on every page, which states that we assume no responsibility for information provided to us by our clients,” said Abhilasa Vyas, senior client executive with www.jeevansathi.com.
debasish.panigrahi@ hindustantimes.com