Matrimonial frauds on the rise in Odisha: Police trace several instances of deceit, financial and physical exploitation

Days after a man was arrested in Bhubaneswar for allegedly defrauding multiple women on the pretext of marriage, several new instances of similar matrimonial fraud have come to the fore after a crackdown by the police.

The can of worms opened when a man named Deeptiraj Pattnaik was nabbed from his residence at Neeladri Vihar Sector-2 in Bhubaneswar for reportedly duping several women of lakhs and maintaining physical relations with them under the false pretence of marriage.

The accused presented himself as a college owner's son on a matrimonial site and extorted over Rs 3 lakhs from one of his victims by giving various excuses. His modus operandi further involved siphoning the scammed money from one woman to another, providing them with a false and temporary sense of relief.

One of the victims eventually lodged a case with the Commissionerate Police after Pattanik repeatedly delayed the marriage date and gave vague excuses. His arrest revealed that he was married and had three children but maintained a fake matrimonial profile online to rap unsuspecting women.

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In a similar fashion, the police arrested Satyajit Samal from Binjharpur in Jajpur district for deceiving a divorced, employed young woman in Dubai. Another conman, Nrusingha Biswal from Bhatakudi in Puri was arrested by Bhubaneswar Cyber Police for deceiving multiple young men by posing as a young woman on social media and extorting large sums of money.

In view of these rising matrimonial fraud cases, Bhubaneswar DCP Pinak Mishra appealed to people to come forward with cases of similar deceit and fraud to help authorities nab the accused swiftly.

“In the Deeptiraj Pattnaik case, we came to know that the accused exploited several women financially and physically. Although we have the statements of a few of his victims, there are several more women that he has deceived. We request them to come forward and lodge their complaints to make the case stronger,” stated the DCP.

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He also advised people to exercise caution when using matrimonial sites. “One must not trust another person, whom they met online, so easily. Offline verification of all details of the candidate is necessary before establishing an online relationship,” added DCP Mishra.

Meanwhile, multiple profiles of such fraudulent imposters have been traced by police, with many posing as different identities online. One case involved an accused claiming to be a millionaire while another posed as a young woman deceiving young men.