A 34-year-old man was arrested in Bhubaneswar on the charge of marrying five women without divorcing anyone and duping them of lakhs of rupees posing himself as a police officer, an official said on Saturday.
It was also found out during investigation that the accused was interacting with 49 other women in a matrimonial site over proposals of marriage.
After receiving separate complaints from two women whom he had married, the police laid a trap using a female officer, and arrested Satyajit Samal when he came to meet her, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissioner of Police Sanjeeb Panda told a press conference.
The police recovered a car, a motorcycle, Rs 2.10 lakh in cash, a pistol, some ammunition and two marriage agreement certificates from his possession.
A marriage agreement certificate is a legally binding document that couples enter into before getting married.
During interrogation, Mr Panda said, the man admitted that he had married the two women whose names featured in the agreement document and another one.
Of his total five wives, two were from Odisha and one each was from Kolkata and Delhi. The Police were yet to get details of the fifth woman.
Three bank accounts of Samal were frozen, Mr Panda said.
The police officer said the accused, who is originally from Jajpur district of the state but has currently been living in Bhubaneswar, used to target young widows and divorcees through matrimonial sites.
“Samal used to demand cash and cars after promising to marry them. He also used to threaten them with a gun if they sought their money back,” he said.
After examining his mobile phone, the police came to know that he was chatting with 49 women on a matrimonial site.
The investigation against Samal began after a woman lodged a complaint at Capital Police Station here in February.
According to one of the two complainants, she got in touch with Samal through a matrimonial site. They then began to chat and meet regularly.
Later, he allegedly forced her into a physical relationship on the pretext of marriage and demanded money to purchase a car.
The victim took a personal loan from a bank and bought a car worth around Rs 8.15 lakh for him. She also gave him Rs 36 lakh to start a business.
In case of the other complainant, the accused allegedly took Rs 8.60 lakh and a motorbike from her.
The second victim also availed personal loans from different banks to meet his demand.
Mr Panda said the accused used to maintain a lavish lifestyle with the duped money.
“We expect more women who might have been duped by him will come forward after his arrest,” he said.
The police officer said he used to flee to Dubai after cheating one woman and return after finding his next target.
