70-year-old man duped on pretext of marriage; cash, jewellery stolen

Photo used for representational purposes

A 70-year-old man was allegedly duped by a Rajasthan-based family on the pretext of marriage. The accused escaped with property papers and jewllery, all worth Rs 28.59 lakh, from the victim's house.

The incident came to light when the elderly person filed a complaint with MHB police. The police booked a case and investigation is underway.

According to the police, the victim, a resident of Borivli West, was staying alone after his wife died in 2018.

In the complaint, the victim said that his friend Dinesh Parik, who used to take care of him during illness, advised him to get married again. Initially, the victim refused but on constant pursual by Parik, he agreed. Parik suggested a woman for marriage and told the victim to meet her.

The woman identified as Aruna Parikh is a divorcee and resided in Sanganer in Rajasthan. Parik told the victim that Aruna is from a good family and is ready for marriage.

On 6 July 2019, Aruna came to Mumbai with her parents, brother, and 21-year-old daughter to meet him. The next day they went to Arya Samaj office in Goregaon and got their names registered for marriage, the victim said in his complaint.

"Aruna told me to accompany her to Jaipur for legal registration of marriage and I decided to go with her family. As Aruna and her family wanted to travel around the city, so they stayed over at my house and I also gave her a key to my house," the victim said.

"On August 8, Aruna took me to the Rajasthan, and on August 14, I applied for marriage registration at the office of the additional district magistrate in Jaipur. Later, I went to my native village Sikkar in Rajasthan and also took Aruna with me to show her the properties I owned," the victim added.

On August 25, the victim returned to Mumbai. "I found out that property papers, cash, and jewellery, kept in the room in which Aruna was staying with her family, were missing. I immediately called Aruna but she didn't pick up, so I called her daughter and even she didn't respond. I called several times but there was no response. I flew to Jaipur with my nephew on August 28 and withdrew the marriage application filed in Marriage Register Office," the victim said in his complaint.

Following the incident, the victim suffered a minor attack and was admitted to Ramdev Hospital. After being discharged, he returned to Mumbai, but his health deteriorated further and he was admitted to Tunga Hospital.

Last week, he submitted a written complaint to MHB police and a case was registered on July 7.

"We have registered a case under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC against Aruna Parik and an investigation has been launched. But due to the pandemic, we can't travel to Rajasthan for further probe," said an officer from MHB police station.

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