How Kashmir's Runaway Bride conned 27 men

In a shocking case of fraud, a woman from Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district managed to deceive and marry 27 men, only to abscond with their jewelry, cash, and belongings.

The woman stayed with these men for around 10-20 days and then escaped on the pretext of visiting her parents' house.

What is the case?

According to a local website The Kashmiriyat, the woman, hailing from Rajouri district, is allegedly part of a large-scale operation involving brokers who arrange her marriages with wealthy men willing to provide substantial dowries after the Nikah ceremony.

The scam came to light when more than 12 men filed missing complaints for their wives at the local police station, only to realize they all had photographs of the same woman.

One resident of Budgam, Khan Sahib, recounted how he was approached by a broker several months ago, who showed him a photograph of a woman from Rajouri.

Rajouri 'Runaway bride' allegedly married twenty seven (27) men in Budgam district only.

Reports Ubaid Mukhtar~ TK pic.twitter.com/nbhRLObs2k

— The Kashmiriyat (@TheKashmiriyat) July 13, 2023

Another man, Abdul Ahad Mir said that his son had some physical issues. “A local middleman approached me saying that he would get my son married and all I needed to do was to pay him two lakhs.”

He agreed and to finalize the marriage reached Rajouri with some relatives and booked some hotel rooms, but the brokers kept on delaying the marriage. 

After a few days, the broker said that the girl had met with some accident and he repaid half the amount. “However, a few hours later, they demanded the money back and showed us the photograph of another girl. When we agreed to marry, the woman was brought around Isha (night time),” Abdul Ahad Mir said.

Then the family returned to Kashmir, the same night. A few days later, the woman told her husband that she  wants to visit the hospital for a checkup. When the husband went to the hospital to get the ticket, the woman vanished from the spot.

Abdul Rashid, brother of  another victim, said that they were shown the woman around the night time by a man and the nikah was performed at night only. He said that the woman was at their place for 10 days in Chadoora Budgam, however, after that, she fled.

Another victim, Mohammad Altaf Mir said that he was married to the same woman. He said, “They have forged their documents. They do not show their real names to anyone. She vanished from the house during the dark of the night with everything that was inside the house,” Altaf said.

Nisar Ahmed, another man from Budgam who also married the same woman, said that the woman (his wife) went to the hospital with his mother, and escaped from there too.

FIR filed

The incidents prompted lawyer Abid Zahoor Andrabi to file an FIR (First Information Report) at the Budgam police station under sections IPC 420 and 120B. Numerous men approached him, all recounting similar stories of being married and subsequently robbed by the same woman.

Andrabi suspected a larger inter-district racket involving multiple accomplices, highlighting the woman's aliases on marriage documents as Zaheen, Ilayas, and Shaheena, with her true identity remaining unknown.

The woman's fraudulent activities have victimized 27 men in Budgam alone, leaving authorities unsure of the total number of victims across other districts.