Haryana's 'desperate' grooms prove gullible too

Sex-skewed Haryana is increasingly  under the grip  of the peculiar problem of bachelors in sizeable numbers struggling to find brides.

Failing to find a suitable match for marriage, bachelors desperate to enter into wedlock are falling into the traps  laid by fake wedding-planners who promise them good-looking brides.

Many among them, who have surpassed their "marriageable age", are even paying heavily to  people  promising matrimonial alliances sooner than they would expect.

On Wednesday, nearly 35 bachelors were duped of lakhs of rupees in this regard.

According to the police, a fake wedding-planner, along with one of her accomplices, had asked all   thirty five wannabe bridegrooms to assemble  at one point in Kharkhoda on Wednesday morning.

The plan was to take them in a bus to an undisclosed wedding venue where all the marriages were to be ceremonised. Hours later, these men panicked and reported the matter to the police.

The Kharkhoda police in the Sonipat district of Haryana has registered a case against a self-styled wedding-planner from New Delhi.

She is accused of fleeing with huge sums of money taken from the families of the youth, promising them  beautiful brides.

All 35 duped bachelors are now demanding  her arrest so that they can get their money back.

The accused woman lured men from at least four districts of Haryana over the last three months.

One of the victims, Rohtash Singh, said he had made all the arrangements at his home in Rohtak to welcome his bride.

But he waited with the others for hours before he realised he had been deceived.

Sources said each of the 35 men had paid in excess of Rs 40,000 for an alliance.

Incidents of bride-trafficking are not uncommon in Jatland.

Reports of people indulging in unscrupulous acts of buying brides from faraway states are also not uncommon.

Some reports even  suggested  an "organised racket"  behind incidents of bride-trafficking.

Many of these brides practically become domestic help to the groom's family.