Bhubaneswar: Not 14 but 18 women were conned into marriage by Bidhu Prakash Swain alias Ramesh Swain, a 54-year-old man from Odisha’s Kendrapada district.
Briefing the media, Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash said that 3 more wives of the fake doctor have been identified- a chartered accountant from Chattisgarh, a doctor from Guwahati in Assam and a highly qualified woman from Odisha.
Police had earlier informed about Swain having married three women from Odisha, one from Punjab, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. He also married two each in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.
He targetted his victims through matrimonial sites by posing as a doctor and a senior Central government official and swindled their riches after marrying them.
“This apart, he has duped Rs 18 lakh from aspirants seeking MBBS admission,” the DCP said.
Swain was earlier arrested in Hyderabad and Ernakulam, Kerala, for fraud and cheating.
Dash further said that a team comprising Mahila police station IIC and two sub-inspectors have been formed to extract more details on the fraudster. “His mobile phones will be sent to the forensic lab. His financial transactions will also be probed,” he added.
Notably, the Mahila Police have sought permission from the SDJM court, Bhubaneswar, to take the ‘fake doctor’, who made a career out of marriages, on a seven-day remand.
The help of RBI has also been sought to locate the bank accounts linked to his 2 PAN cards.
It was a complaint by his seventh wife that led to his arrest on Monday. “We met on a matrimonial website. After our wedding, we stayed in Bhubaneswar. After a few days, he fled with the money and jewellery. Then I saw that he had posted a photo on the website, again looking for a partner. I then filed an FIR,” she stated in her complaint lodged in July 2021.
Swain mostly targeted educated, well-to-do and highly placed middle-aged women. Among his victims were an assistant commandant of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, a deputy general manager in National Insurance Company Limited, a lawyer in Delhi High Court and five teachers.
He travelled across the country seeking such matches and spent most of his time with one of his wives at Guwahati, Assam, police said.
Also Read: Fake Odisha Doctor With 14 Wives Arrested; Targeted Middle-Aged Working Women
