Man arrested in India after marrying 14 women in major scam

Bidhu Prakash Swain posed as a doctor and married numerous women between 2002 and 2020 and scammed them out of a significant amount of money.

According to a report by India Today, his targets were mostly middle-aged women and women who were divorced who he met them online.

His victims were from the Indian states of Punjab, Delhi, Assam, Jharkhand, and Odisha.

Bhubaneswar DCP Umashankar Dash told India Today: "His targets were highly-educated and worked in senior positions at various government and private organisations. He had his eyes on their money."

Mr Dash has said that authorities will conduct a "detailed financial investigation" into the case.

"If needed, an all-women team will be formed for further probe. A professional counsellor will also be included in the team for counselling his victims," he said.

"We are planning to conduct a detailed financial investigation in the fraud. We will seek longer remand of the accused for a detailed probe."

Police said he mostly targeted educated, well-to-do and highly placed women across different states.

Swain had first married a woman of Kendrapara district in 1982 and his last marriage was in 2020.

The women he married included an assistant commandant of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, a deputy general manager in a national insurance company and a lawyer in Delhi High Court and five teachers.

The tip-off about his fraud came when one of the victims, a Delhi-based school teacher, lodged a case against him on July 5 last year at the Mahila police station.

Swain and the teacher had married in Delhi’s Janakpuri in 2018 and she stayed with him for a few months in Bhubaneswar.

It is during her stay in the city when she realised that he was a fraud. A domestic help who was aware of his practice informed the complainant about his previous marriages.

Swain frequently changed locations where he lived across the country which made it difficult for police to trace him.

He was eventually nabbed while driving a rented car near Aiginia.

Authorities subsequently discovered that he had conned 13 other women he married after meeting them online. He was found with 11 ATM cards and four identity cards.

He had previously been arrested for scamming unemployed people by promising jobs or training opportunities in exchange for a fee.