A 2007 photo of Nidhi and Aishwarya
Not all marriages are made in heaven. And some of them involve sting operations. The family of a woman in Ghaziabad was allegedly harassed for dowry by her fiancé's relatives. They secretly recorded a meeting between the two sides to get her prospective in-laws booked for dowry harassment.
"We had to conduct the sting operation as the groom's family has lodged several false cases against us. The grooms' uncle is a serving IAS officer who wanted a share in the dowry. On his instruction UP police lodged false cases against us. Investigation official submitted his last report stating that the cases were false and we were being framed. The groom's family is still harassing us. Our family had to conduct this sting to prove our innocence," said the father of the girl Ved Pal Singh Rana, a former Assistant Commissioner with the Delhi Police.
We conducted the operation when the groom's family came to apologise for their wrongdoings," he added.
Mr Rana said that four days ago a Police team from Badaun district in UP came to arrest him in connection with a case of cheating. "Badaun Police acted on the instructions of the IAS officer," alleged Rana.
The girl's family said the sting video shows the groom's family confessing to their misdeeds and should be able to prove Mr Rana's innocence.
In 2007, Nidhi's marriage was fixed with Aishwarya Pratap Singh. But after the engagement Aishwarya's family started demanding huge amounts in dowry from Mr Rana, which he refused. Aishwarya's family then threatened them with dire consequences and cancelled the marriage.
Mr Rana said that he had tried to persuade the groom and his family but to no avail.
"The groom's family made a list of dowry items that was written by the IAS official. We were shocked to see the demands. They cancelled the wedding when we refused to comply," said Mr Rana.
By this time, the wedding invitations had been distributed and all arrangements had already been made by the girl's family.
The bride's family was taken aback when they got a court notice in which they were accused of holding their future daughter-in-law hostage and forcing her to cancel the marriage. "Pratap's family filed a habeas corpus with the Allahabad High Court against us. We got the notice, but a day after the court date, and could not appear at the first hearing. After this we too decided to approach court and the police," said Mr Rana.
He said after the court notice they came to know that an FIR was lodged against them in the Indirapurm Police Station of Ghaziabad by the groom's uncle alleging that Mr Rana along with his goons had come to his house and robbed valuables at gunpoint. This case was investigated by inspector Delhi Gate, Meerut on the instruction of the DIG. The inspector submitted the last report on the case saying that the matter was false and Mr Rana was being framed.
"We heaved a sigh of relief. But a few days later we came to know that another FIR against us of cheating was registered at Civil Lines Police Station, Badaun district in UP. We went to Badaun, but the complaint had not mentioned the time of the incident and place of occurrence. This shows that this was another false FIR," alleged Mr Rana.
Meanwhile, a case of dowry harassment was registered with the Indirapuram Police on the basis of the complaint made by Ved Pal Singh Rana. "In the FIR, I had accused eight persons including, the IAS officer for demanding dowry and threatening us," said Ved Pal Singh Rana. He said that no action was taken by the police for three years. Rana then approached senior police officials to complain against the local police alleging that they were dancing to the tunes of the IAS officials.
Mr Rana said three years after the FIR, local police decided to arrest the groom and his family for demanding dowry. "On January 5 the groom and his family approached us to apologize for the matter. They asked us to take back the dowry complaint filed by them. They were talking about a compromise and of withdrawing the cases filed against us. I recorded the conversation using a spy camera to establish my innocence," said the former ACP.
MiD DAY tried to get reactions from the groom's uncle, Yogendra Singh, Head of the department in Chaudhry Charan Singh University, Meerut. But he abused our reporter and refused to comment on the matter.