The police had announced a reward of Rs 5,000 each on the Jain couple (Representational)
A couple, carrying a reward of Rs 10,000 on their heads, have been arrested for duping a man of Rs 1.26 lakh by orchestrating a fake marriage in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, police said on Saturday.
The accused Suman Jain (20) and her husband Bhanu (22) cheated Jaiprakash Tiwari (33), a resident of Panna district, who was in search of a bride, inspector Prafulla Srivastava of Lordganj police station said.
The couple, who posed as Anjali Tiwari, a prospective bride, and her brother Vikas Tiwari, were arrested from Shatabdipuram locality on Friday, the official said.
The victim Jaiprakash Tiwari had lodged a complaint of cheating with the police in July, following which the four accused had been arrested earlier, he said.
The police had announced a reward of Rs 5,000 each on the Jain couple, who had been on the run, the official said, adding that a manhunt has been launched for another accused.
According to the police, the victim and three of his relatives and a friend had come down to Jabalpur on July 8 to get married to Suman after believing her false claim that she was a spinster.
As per the plan, one Jyoti Kushwah (29) introduced herself as Rajni to Jaiprakash on his arrival and took him to a lawyer and asked him to pay Rs 8,000 and furnish a copy of Aadhaar card for the marriage, he said.
Later, the victim was asked to sign in a register and informed that the marriage was complete with the accused woman who was present, the official said.
Jyoti later asked Jaiprakash to give her Rs 1.10 lakh to purchase jewellery and clothes for the bride and escaped after taking the money, he said.
After a while according to their plan, other accused Ashish Tiwari (51), Vipin Jain (30) and Sunil Thakur (32), posing as police personnel, appeared in front of the couple and threatened to implicate Jaiprakash in a false case of marrying clandestinely, the official said.
The trio asked the victim to cough up Rs 8,500 or face arrest, he said, adding that after getting the money, all the accused fled the scene.
The police have received complaints that the accused couple had similarly trapped other people, and investigations are underway, the official said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)