UP man weds wife to her lover days after Meerut killing

AGRA: Faced with a marriage on the verge of collapse and a state increasingly pockmarked by grisly domestic disputes — most recently, a body in a concrete drum in Meerut and a newlywed shot in a field in Auraiya — a man in Uttar Pradesh did something both disarmingly rational and quietly astonishing: he arranged for his wife to marry her lover. The ceremony, complete with garlands and paperwork, took place on Tuesday at the Kaimganj Tehsil office in Farrukhabad..
Rahul Singh, 25, a factory worker in Farrukhabad, had married 23-year-old Vaishnavi from Sikandarpur Khas village last year. The arrangement, formalised in 2023, seemed ill-fated from the start — Vaishnavi, as it turned out, remained emotionally tethered to Manoj Kumar, a man she had been seeing before the marriage. Disagreements ensued, and before long, she returned to her parental home and stayed there.
Rahul said he tried to persuade her to return on multiple occasions, but she refused. Over time, and with a certain resignation, he concluded that dragging out a marriage neither party wanted was not only futile, but potentially dangerous — especially in a climate where romantic fallouts have had fatal consequences.
The recent murder of former Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput in Meerut, allegedly by his wife and her lover, loomed large in the public imagination. The pair, police said, drugged him, killed him, and encased his dismembered body in a cement-filled drum. In another case, in Auraiya, police arrested a woman and her lover for allegedly hiring a contract killer to murder her husband Dilip — just a fortnight into their arranged marriage.
So Rahul, rather than attempt a legal feud or emotional brinkmanship, did something that could almost be mistaken for grace. With help from a lawyer, he facilitated the official marriage of Vaishnavi and Manoj at the local Tehsil office. He ensured the paperwork was done correctly, brought garlands, and watched the two marry, legally and publicly, with a copy of the signed settlement tucked under his arm.
Vaishnavi's mother, Mena Devi, said, "She was not happy with her husband, so there was no point in forcing the relationship. I hope she finds happiness with Manoj." Anil Kumar, the lawyer Rahul hired, told TOI: "After getting consent from both sides, a compromise letter was prepared and signed. They brought garlands and, in my presence, they garlanded each other."