Fake suitor dupes 30 women, held

The Vile Parle police has arrested one man for duping over 30 women by creating fake profiles on various matrimonial websites. The accused, a 32-year-old man, would claim to be working with a MNC and target educated women from good financial backgrounds and then regularly take money from them and at times steal their belongings too.

The arrested accused has been identified as Rahul Patil (32) and is said to be unemployed. The incident came to light when a woman approached the Vile Parle police that her debit card had been stolen. “She came to us to complain about the card and when we started investigations, we found that nearly a lakh had been withdrawn from the card. Further enquiries revealed that the card was being used by Patil,” said an officer from Vile Parle station.

When the police informed the complainant of this, she confronted Patil, and he allegedly started abusing her for approaching the police. “He had allegedly stolen the card from her purse when she met him,” said an officer. Sensing something amiss, the police started further investigations into the said accused and found that while he claimed to have worked with an MNC, he was in fact unemployed. “The victim had met Patil via a matrimonial website (shaadi.com) for Maharashtrian girls. After initiating contact with her via the website, they started speaking over texts and mails and soon decided to get married,” said an officer. “He would force her to have physical relations with him and threaten to call off the wedding if she refused,” he said.

The police added that Patil had registered accounts with various matrimonial websites, including leading ones like shaadi.com and jeevansaathi.com. “In his profile, he claimed to be highly educated and employed with a Japanese multinational firm with a monthly income of Rs 22 lakh. He would also claim to own a four BHK in Mumbai’s South Mumbai locality, land in Mahabaleshwar and that he would frequently travel abroad,” said an officer.

Sources said that Patil has cheated nearly 30 women in the same manner across the city. “He would ask the women to lend him money citing emergency, make them pay for his travel and steal their belongings,” said an officer. Patil also has cases registered against him in Kalyan, Nashik and Sinnar.