The tale of the 'missing' bride: Baraat arrives in Himachal village amid fanfare, finds no wedding

Una (HP): In a bizarre incident, a marriage party (baraat) from Nari village in Himachal Pradesh's Una district returned home without the bride as no wedding was planned in any home of Singa village, where the marriage ceremony was supposed to take place.

The groom, who arrived with the wedding procession, did not even meet the bride. On Tuesday, the 'baraat' arrived in cars from Nari village but the villagers of Singa village were surprised as there was no wedding planned in the village.

Everyone was in shock and when the groom's side showed the photograph of the bride, they were told that she is not from the village.

Gurdev Singh Gyani, the sarpanch of Singa village, said there is no such girl or family in the village, adding the incident is unfortunate.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, the middlemen Manu, the wife of one Rajiv from Nari village, fled from the spot in a car on the pretext that she would find the girl.

The couple Manu and Rajiv, the neighbours of the groom who acted as middlemen and reportedly took Rs 50,000 to fix the marriage, are now being questioned as the groom and the bride never met, and they only spoke on phone for a week before the wedding.

The police arrived as the situation became tense and when contacted the middlemen said that the bride had consumed some poisonous substance and was en route to Punjab's Nawanshahr Hospital.

However, the suspicious groom's side surrounded the woman and brought her back to Singa village and the local panchayat representatives also reached the spot. After this, the baraatis were taken to the panchayat house and the dispute was still on till the filing of this story.

Haroli DSP Mohan Rawat said the police is gathering more information about this matter, adding the groom's family has been asked to either reach a compromise or file a complaint at the Una Sadar Police Station.