Mumbai Crime: Promised a job, woman sold for marriage at Rs 2L by insta friend

Arnala police station Pic/Hanif Patel

The Mira Bhayandar Vasai Virar police have busted a racket where Maharashtrian women are lured on the pretext of police jobs in Rajasthan, where they are sold as brides.One woman, a single mother aged 27, has been rescued and the groom arrested. The police said there is at least one more Maharashtrian woman trapped in Rajasthan. They suspect more cases might emerge once the mastermind is nabbed.

The Arnala police have arrested Barmer resident Chetan Bharti, 32, who paid Rs 2 lakh to marry the woman, who was trapped on Instagram by the mastermind, truck driver Dinesh Puri. Rajasthan has one of the lowest sex ratios among large Indian states.

Chetan Bharti, who paid Rs 2 lakh to marry the woman lured to Rajasthan by a man she befriended on Instagram

"Puri trapped the woman in November," said Kalyanrao Karpe, senior inspector, Arnala. "She lived with her daughter and parents in Virar and worked in a Mira Road hospital. He asked her to reach Aurangabad for "police training" after which he sent her to Rajasthan."

"Happy that she was getting a police job, the woman left for Aurangabad on January 12, " said Investigating Officer Adyanrao Salgar. "Puri then told her to board a train to Rajasthan and get off at Bhinmal station. The accused Chetan Bharti and two others received her at the station and took her to Balotra village in Barmer."

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When Bharti asked the woman to get dressed in Rajasthani attire, she got suspicious. By then, Bharti had taken away her cell phone, so she had no way out, an officer said. She was forced to sign marriage papers on January 16.

Lucky break

Kalyanrao Karpe, senior inspector, Arnala police station

Five days later, she managed to lay her hands on a cell phone and called her sister. On January 21, I got a call from an unknown number," the sister, who lives in Kolhapur, told mid-day. "It was my sister. She told me she was trapped in Rajasthan and cut the call. I informed my parents in Virar."

The parents had already registered a missing person's complaint at the Arnala police. A team led by Karpe and comprising API Arjun Pawar, ASI Janardan Mate and police constable Rahul Kadam was sent to Rajasthan. By then, the woman had managed to escape from the clutches of the Bharti family and called her sister, who relayed her location to the police.

Captured again

Arnala police station Pic/Hanif Patel

Unfortunately for the woman, Bharti and his friends tracked her down before the police could reach her. She was taken back to the house and locked up again. On January 28, with the help of their local counterparts, the police team raided Bharti's house and rescued the woman. "We arrested Bharti and were about to pick up his accomplices, but the villagers created a ruckus and helped them escape," said an officer.

‘We'll nail the gang'

Further investigation revealed that Bharti paid R2 lakh for the woman. "We learned Puri has kept another Maharashtrian woman captive and is shopping for a groom for her," said the officer. "He is a truck driver who lures women on Instagram. Puri, his father Masar, and relative Bhavesh have switched off their mobiles. We suspect they are hiding in Rajasthan. We will arrest them soon."