JOIN USWoman traces fraudster; saves would-be bride
A woman who was taken for a ride showed exemplary courage in tracing the fraudster, and saved the life of another woman, whom he was about to marry, a third marriage for him.
B N Raghu alias Dr Suresh Gowda is the accused. A native of Bidarakere village in Nagamangala taluk, Raghu married Nayana of Hichkada village near Ankola in Karwar district six years ago. She begot a child, now five-and-a-half-year old. She is now in her third month of pregnancy again.
Four years ago, he had married another woman in Hassan, when he was working as the principal of Sri Ranga D Ed College. A high school teacher and a resident of Bangalore, the woman came in contact with Raghu through a match maker. Raghu, who boasted as a MA, B Ed holder, besides Ph D, married that woman in a lavish ceremony at Poornima Mahal, Chandra Layout in Bangalore. The in-laws had given him Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and 300 grams of gold as dowry.
Raghu later shifted to Hankere in Mandya and joined a private D Ed institute as its principal after allegedly producing a fake degree and PG marks cards. Back home, his relationship with the teacher wife soured, after he forced her to secure a loan to buy a car. He also pledged jewellery and raises loans, only to splurge on his habits. He had planned to marry a girl in Channarayapatna and had also visited her.
What toppled his game was a false assurance to a woman in Mysore, whom he had
promised a job four months ago. Shantakumari working as a nurse in Mysore, had given Rs two lakh in advance, for a government job. Raghu had promised her a job in the government-run Victoria Hospital in Bangalore. When Raghu went missing, avoiding her calls on cellphone, Shantakumari went straight to the college in Hankere, where Raghu was working. It was there Shantakumari stumbled on the startling facts.
Shantakumari, accompanied by her relatives, traced Raghu at his house and bashed him up. What came to the fore further was, Shantakumari was not alone in the list of victims. Raghu had cheated a couple after promising them jobs in Vidhana Soudha earlier. He had collected Rs 1.20 lakh as advance from them. Besides, he had allegedly misused students’ fee to the tune of Rs 30,000, keeping the institute in dark.
Raghu’s second wife who came to her husband’s rescue was shocked to know that her husband had already married another in Ankola. Needless to say, all these acts spiked his marriage for the third time.
Raghu’s dual role had supportive documents, all concocted, from voters ID to DL, PAN cards to marks sheets, now seized by the town police.
Following complaints from his second wife, Shantakumari and also the institute, police arrested him and produced before a court. He has been remanded to judicial custody.