Srinagar, July 15, 2023- The baffling case of Kashmir’s runaway bride would make all cheating and fraud by Natwarlal look like a Sunday afternoon party.
A woman belonging to Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir not only successfully conned over two dozen men, but also made each one of them believe that she was his lawfully wedded wife.
The story of this master fraudster reads like an Alistair MacLean novel full of intrigue, drama and suspense.
With the help of brokers, this woman would arrange her grooms and the only criterion was that the prospective groom must be well-to-do to the extent of giving her jewellery, cash and other gifts at the time of their ‘Nikah’ (Lawful wedding).
The bride would spend some jolly time at the groom’s house, endear herself to the husband like a devout wife for 10 to 20 days before vanishing into thin air with all her wedding gifts including jewellery, cash etc.
Not before she conned 27 people did the lid blow off her ‘marriage bonanza’.
Twelve people gathered at Srinagar’s press colony to convey to the media that their wives were missing. These ‘husbands’ also lodged missing reports with the police. As almost all of them belonged to central Budgam district, it did not take them much time to discover that each one of them was showing the same picture to the media and the police.
The woman belonged to Rajouri district and had been conning men with the help of brokers who would approach gullible men with marriage proposals.
In one of the cases, she married a local who went all the way to Rajouri.
After staying with him in Budgam district, she expressed a desire to go to the hospital. When the husband went to fetch the patient treatment ticket at the hospital counter, the wife vanished.
In most other cases, she would tell her ‘husbands’ that she wanted to go to Rajouri to see her parents. Once out of her husband’s house, she never returned.
A local lawyer, Abid Zahoor Andrabi is now representing the battery of ‘husbands’ the runaway bride left behind.
The lawyer has filed a case in the court arguing that there is a inter-district gang of matchmakers who are on the prowl for prospective grooms to dupe them with the help of the runaway bride. (Agency)
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