MADHYA PRADESH: A bizarre fraud case has come to light in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where more than 40 young men were left waiting for brides who never showed up for the wedding.
According to a foreign news agency, Abhishek Verma, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, and his parents were worried about finding a match for their son. Around the same time, a man from a nearby village approached them claiming to be a marriage matchmaker and offered to arrange the marriage. Allegedly, he told the grooms’ families that they only had to choose an orphan girl from a photo album and pay around $200 to take part in a mass wedding ceremony.
At the end of May, on the day of the wedding, Verma and nearly 40 other grooms arrived at the venue at 8am dressed for the ceremony. The grooms waited for hours for the brides. However, by evening they realized they had been victims of fraud. Police officer Preeti Katare said the victims were men aged 20 to 40 from rural areas.
She added that due to shame, dozens of other potential victims have likely not contacted the police. Police have registered fraud cases against the man who arranged the marriages and his associates, and have launched an investigation.
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