Fake Odisha Doctor With 14 Wives Arrested; Targeted Middle-Aged Working Women

Bhubaneswar: A fake doctor, who had allegedly fleeced 14 women after getting into wedlock with them, has been arrested by Twin City Commissionerate Police in Bhubaneswar.

The accused, identified as Ramesh Swain, was nabbed from a rented accommodation at Khandagiri here and will be forwarded to court, Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash informed on Monday.

He was arrested on basis of a complaint lodged by a schoolteacher, whom he had married at Arya Samaj Temple, Janakpuri, New Delhi, in July 2021, at the Mahila police station here.

According to the complainant, Swain brought her to Bhubaneswar and they stayed here as man and wife for some days. However, she later came that know that he had lied to her about himself and his earlier marriages.

The DCP said that the accused had cheated two women between 1982 and 2002 after marrying them. He fathered five children from these two marriages.

Between 2002 and 2019, he targeted middle-aged single working women through different matrimonial sites. he used to identify himself as a senior official of the Health Ministry to establish his credibility. Lawyers, doctors and highly-educated women are among the victims.

Swain used to gain their trust and abandon them after acquiring their money and valuables. He travelled across India seeking such matches and spent most of his time with one of his wives at Guwahati, Assam.

In 2018, he married a Punjab woman who was working with the Central Armed Police Forces and duped her of around Rs 10 lakh. He swindled Rs 11 lakh from the Gurudwara where the marriage was held on the promise of getting permission for establishing a medical college.

He married another 12 women between 2002 and 2022.

Dash informed that police have already established contact with nine among the 14 women and are conducting a financial investigation of his transactions.

During the search at his rented house in Bhubaneswar, 11 ATM cards, 4 Aadhaar cards, a School Certificate, and other incriminating documents were seized.

Commissionerate Police will seek remand of Swain. “If needed, an all-women team will be formed for further probe. A professional counsellor will also be included in the team for counselling of his victims,” the DCP added.

Swain had been earlier arrested in Hyderabad for duping unemployed youths on the pretext of providing jobs and getting them admissions in MBBS courses. He had collected over Rs 2 crore from several persons across several states.

He was also arrested for loan fraud at Ernakulam.

Swain has been booked under Sections 498 (A), 419, 468, 471 and 494 of the IPC.