Man steals bikes to pay panchayat fine to live with woman, but she elopes with another

The panchayat said the money was to be paid to assuage the anger of the woman’s family and for him to be able to live with her again.

Twenty-two-year-old Ramesh did not know he will end up paying a huge price for falling in love.

The young man resorted to stealing motorcycles to pay the fine. But the time he saved the money, the woman eloped with somebody else. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The 22-year-old from Rajasthan’s Udaipur fell met a woman a year ago, eloped with her and started living together.

The woman’s family, upset with her elopement, called a panchayat or village council, which imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on Ramesh. They said the money was to be paid to assuage the anger of the woman’s family and for him to be able to live with her again.

Ramesh resorted to stealing motorcycles to pay the fine. But the time he saved the money, the woman eloped with somebody else.

The tragedy for the jilted lover did not end there.

Ramesh, along with two accomplices, was apprehended and arrested by the police at a check post late on Friday last week. He narrated his story to the police during interrogation.

“He told us that he started stealing so that he could pay the fine imposed on him. One of his associates, Thawar, is a notorious thief,” the station house officer of Hiranmagri police station in Udaipur, Sanjeev Swami, said.

They used a master key to unlock the motorcycles and took them away through unconstructed roads. Ramesh and Thawar stole the bikes and Premchand, a mechanic, dismantled the vehicles and sell their parts separately.

The three were presented in the local court and are in police custody.