The bride who married 12 times, only to be abducted after each wedding

medium nocaption120935180She was Kajal in Gujarat, Seema in Haryana, Neha in Bihar and Sweety in Uttar Pradesh. At 21, she had been married at least a dozen times, but never for more than a few hours. Tragedy struck her every time like a script: she was abducted straight from her wedding venue, either before the wedding or soon afterwards, with all her jewellery, cash and other valuables, by a gang of 4-5 men.Her grooms never heard from her. And the ‘distraught’ bride was soon back on matrimonial websites and other social media platforms, looking for fresh prey.'Daku Dulhan', as they call her, is Gulshana Riaz Khan in real life, married to Riyaz Khan, a tailor in UP's Jaunpur. He was aware of the serial scams and had no qualms in taking a 5% cut on the booty she nets.Gulshana was arrested this month by the police in Lucknow along with eight other members of her gang. Police recovered Rs 72,000 cash, one motorcycle, one gold mangalsutra, 11 mobile phones and three fake Aadhaar cards. Ambedkar Nagar locality SP Keshav Kumar said those arrested include five women and four men – together they ran a coordinated marriage scam across several states, targeting families struggling to find suitable matches for their sons using matrimonial sites.Gulshana, using multiple aliases, would pose as a prospective bride. A ‘settlement amount’ – payment from the groom’s family once the alliance was finalised – would be negotiated and paid. Next was the wedding during which the other gang members posed as relatives of Gulshana. And then the swift disappearance. medium nocaption120929204In a recent case, the gang duped Sonu, a resident of Rohtak in Haryana – they demanded Rs 80,000 for arranging the match. "On the wedding day, soon after the ceremony, male members of the gang abducted the bride and made good with all valuables," said the officer. Sonu informed the UP police via the emergency helpline 112 that his bride had been abducted by men on bikes. "We blocked all roads and sounded an alert, following which one member was held. He spilled the beans and helped arrest the other gang members," said the SP.The accused confessed to have duped at least 12 grooms using the same modus operandi — often changing identities and locations to stay ahead of the law. These man thought tiger claws could help control their wivesIt’s a case that has left Madhya Pradesh forest officers bewildered – five men were arrested recently for mutilating a dead tigress, of which two had a rather unusual reason for doing so. It wasn’t for money, but for a much stranger purpose – to 'control' their wives.The two suspects confessed that a sorcerer had told them that tiger claws hold the secret to 'dominance' in marital life.On April 26, forest officers found the carcass in a buffer zone of the Pench Tiger Reserve in Seoni district. While the tigress had died of natural causes, its paws had been hacked with an axe, three of its canines had been cut out and its hide skinned.Thanks to a tip, a special investigation team led by Rukhad buffer zone officer Shubham Baronia nabbed five suspects. The claws, teeth and hide were recovered from multiple locations.The case took a strange turn when two suspects, Raj Kumar and Jhaam Singh, revealed their shocking reasons for mutilating the tigress. They said they were following the advice of a black magic practitioner, who claimed that tiger claws could be used to gain control over their wives.Raj said he was told that if he performed certain rituals with tiger claws, he would gain the power to “subdue his wife", who he described as "disobedient". medium nocaption120929409Forest officials said some locals in this region believe in occult practices, and there have been several incidents where tigers and leopards were poached for use in 'black magic', but the 'wife control' angle is a surprising twist to this troubling trend.The officials said Raj and Jhaam were fishing in the buffer zone along with several villagers when they saw the tigress' carcass. They were curious and tried to get near but saw a tiger sitting next to it and backed off.. The duo then returned to the site the next day and hacked off the claws and canines. But they weren't done yet.The sorcerer told them they needed the hide as well to complete their ritual. So, on the third day, Raj and Jhaam went back again, and cut out a piece of the skin.Some locals saw this and passed on the information to investigators.The suspects were produced in court on May 3, and placed in forest department remand for questioning. Authorities are investigating if other men were involved in this bizarre practice and are also trying to track down the sorcerer."This is a shocking case because it shows how deeply ingrained superstitions can push people to commit extreme acts, like mutilating a protected species," said a senior forest official."What a wild way to solve relationship problems! Many of us might be dealing with marital issues, but that doesn't mean we go around severing claws from a dead tigress. This is just ridiculous," said an investigating officer.They’re study BTech, but also double up to clean toilets & cook in their own collegeThey may soar as AI whizkids in the future. But for now, these girls have decided to work as janitors in their own engineering college in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur to fund their education.Apart from cleaning toilets, Vani* waters plants or helps in the college kitchen before heading to class at 9 am. The part-time work allows her to pay for the hostel at the engineering college – something her daily wager parents cannot afford. The 21-year-old is currently in her final year of BTech in AI/ML (artificial intelligence/machine learning).Vani's college has about a dozen such girls who have taken up similar work to keep their dreams of higher education alive. And they are only too glad to be able to do so."I know my family's financial situation. I don't feel there is anything wrong with taking up any work that can ease the burden on them," Vani told TOI. 120929608A resident of Bellamvaripalem in Guntur, the girl's father makes around Rs 700 to Rs 800 a day, and her mother another Rs 250. Vani started working in her third year after her parents had to borrow money to clear her hostel fee (Rs 37,500 per year) for the second and third year."I did not want them to borrow again. That's why I approached the management asking if I could get some work. I never hesitated to clean restrooms, as we are the ones using them. It felt like keeping our house clean," she said, pointing out that she either works in the early hours before going to college or in the evening after returning from classes.Her batchmate Sravya* has a similar routine."One week we work during the morning and the next week during the evenings. It takes around two to three hours to complete our work. Right from cleaning rooms, restrooms, and gardening, we take care of all work along with other staff," said the final year AI student.Along with these tasks, students also act as caretakers by waking up other students on time for study classes and serving food, among other duties.Though these students admit to run-ins with seniors who question their authority at times (when they ask them to go for classes or turn off lights) they say it's a small price to pay for the returns."My family was already under a debt of Rs 3 lakh. I knew I had to do these jobs to stay afloat. Whenever I faced some resistance, I used to seek the help of authorities," said Aarti*, a first year engineering student from Kurnool.She said the family was willing to take any help that came their way as seven siblings are completely dependent on their mother after their father passed away when she was in class 9.The principal of the college said they are encouraging students to take part-time work to instill confidence in them that they can take care of themselves."About 200 students come forward every year to do part-time work, but we consider only 8 to 10 of them who are serious. These are the ones who are generally in need and have a strong mindset," added the principal.(*Names changed to protect identities)Inputs: Pathikrit Charaborty, P Naveen, Nirupa Vatyam | Illustrations: Varun Vashishtha