Married at night, robbed by dawn: Looteri Dulhans haunt UP's Aligarh

Over a dozen men woke up in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh the next morning after their 'marriage', only to realise that they had been robbed of jewellery and cash, and their brides were missing.

The incident occurred where several men had been allegedly duped by a marriage racket that arranged their marriage with 'looteri dulhans (runaway brides).' The gang, which is infamous for spending one night with their grooms and then vanishing the next morning with cash and jewellery, is allegedly run by a local man named Mukesh Gupta.

As per the complaints by the deceived grooms, Gupta took Rs 1.25 lakh from them for each match.

The incident also drew the attention of the local administration. Shakuntala Bharti, the former mayor of Aligarh, spoke to the media and said that she received complaints of several men being deceived out of cash and jewellery.

"The grooms were contacted through social media and phone calls and were offered attractive brides at reasonable costs. The weddings were held hastily, sometimes in temples, homes or small halls, often around Karwa Chauth," Bharti said.

Bharti also claimed that several men were from the rural parts of the district, and some of them were also hesitant to complain to the police, fearing public embarrassment. She urged the authorities to take note of the racket.

The incident triggered the memories of another case, where Prateek Sharma, another inhabitant of Aligarh, accused his newlywed wife, Shobha, of drugging his family on the night of Karwa Chauth and fleeing with nearly Rs 4.01 lakh and gold jewellery.