A 29-year-old man from Jalgaon district, who was already married twice and got engaged to another woman without informing about his previous marriages, has been arrested by Thane police.
Niraj Suryavanshi was arrested from Bhusawal city in Jalgaon on Friday night. He was yesterday produced before a Thane court which remanded him in police custody till January 25, Assistant Police Inspector S B Kadam, of Thane’s Kopri police station which is probing the case, said.
The complainant, a police officer here, got to know about Suryavanshi while looking for a suitable match for his daughter. When both the families agreed for the alliance, an engagement function of the complainant’s daughter and Suryavanshi was held in Thane in October 2016 and the wedding was scheduled on January 18 this year, Kadam said.
However, later the complainant’s family got a call from Suryavanshi’s parents allegedly demanding a flat for him in Mumbai as he was scheduled to relocate there, he said.
When the woman’s parents expressed their inability to oblige, the accused’s family allegedly threatened to call off the wedding and post pictures of the engagement on social media and defame the victims.
The complainant then made some enquiries with his relatives in Bhusawal and got to know that Suryavanshi was already married twice and also had a child.
According to police, the accused had earlier married a woman in Nashik in 2013 and had an 11-month-old child with her. Prior to this, he got married to some other woman also.
Later, he also got engaged to a woman from Bhopal, but the marriage did not happen as his family allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh dowry which was rejected by the other side.
The complainant approached the Thane police in December last year. Subsequently, Suryavanshi and his family members, including his parents and some other close relatives filed anticipatory bail pleas which were recently rejected by a sessions court here.
One of Suryavanshi’s wives had also approached the court opposing his bail application. Besides, his another wife had filed a complaint against Suryavanshi and his family members last year at Raver police station in Jalgaon.
Meanwhile, Suryavanshi and his family members have been booked by Thane police under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409, 467 (forgery), 468, 120B (criminal conspiracy), 386 (extortion), 427, 211 and also relevant sections of the Prevention of Dowry act.
A manhunt has been launched to nab the absconding family members, police added.
