In what looks like one of the most bizarre cases of fraud in recent times, a woman posed as a man for four years to lure women into marriage and tormented them for dowry.
How we wish we were kidding.
According to a report by Hindustan Times, Sweety Sen, who hails from Dhampur in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnore, started posing as a man named ‘Krishna’ back in 2013, and hoodwinked women into marrying her.
“The lady used to pose as a man in terms of looks and enticed women on Facebook and later married them,” said Janmejay Khanduri, Nainital’s senior superintendent of police.
According to the police, in 2014, Sen travelled to Haldwani’s Kathgodam area to meet a woman she befriended on Facebook, whom the police identified as Kamini, and told her that she was the son of a businessman from Aligarh.
The two women got married later that year, and shortly after, Sen allegedly started beating up Kamini, and took Rs 8.5 lakh from her family for dowry, said the police.
“We got married in 2014, she used to behave like a man, used to drink, smoke and also abuse”, Kamini told news agency ANI. “She used to threaten to kill me after she married another woman”.
Just two years later, another woman, identified as Nisha, who hailed from Kaladhungi town in Uttarakhand, was approached by Sen, and the two got married in April 2016. The ‘second wife’, was present during Sen’s first wedding as a guest. Sen rented a room in Tikoniya area of Haldwani and kept both the wives there, the police said.
Now I know what you’re thinking – how did a “husband” spend years with his wife in an intimate relationship without her finding out the truth? It turns out that Sen allegedly did not let the women look at her body or touch her, and used sex toys to consummate their relationship.
“The girl from Kaladhungi came to know that Krishna was not a man, but she lured her to keep silent by promising her money”, Khanduri said. The girl from Kathgodam area lodged a report with the Haldwani Police alleging of dowry demands and threats after which the police made the arrest.
While Sen was originally charged with dowry harassment, the police had to modify the complaint since none of the unions qualified as a marriage. Which is why the arrest was made on charges of impersonation, fraud, and forgery.
The police also said that they are on the lookout for Sen’s family, who were present during both the weddings and allegedly visited the homes of the two women who were duped into the marriage.
Not that we have any lack of bizarre news in our world but this one just topped my list. And to think all this comes at a time when we thought heinous crimes related to dowry harassment were a thing of the past.
Images: Hindustan Times, Financial Express
