Many marriages in India are a grand affair but a few of them have often resulted in completely bizarre scenarios. On one hand, a 90-year old dad got his son married to a wooden effigy as he thought he would never get a bride, and on the other hand, a Gujarat groom’s dad eloped with the bride’s mom twice. A new case of a runaway bride has now come into the forefront.
As per a report in TOI, a 41-year old serial runaway bride from Ghaziabad named Monica Malik married 8 senior citizens over the past decade through a matrimonial agency called ‘Khanna Vivah Kendra’ and disappeared with their cash and jewelry after gaining their trust after a few weeks. Reportedly, her husbands included retired government officials and businessmen.
The latest groom to be duped by her was a 66-year old construction contractor named Jugal Kishore, who had lost his wife the previous year. Craving companionship after his son chose to live separately, he flipped through a newspaper to find an ad from the Delhi-based ‘Khanna Vivah Kendra’. The agency promised to find suitable matches for “divorcees and senior citizens”.
He proceeded to call up the agency and was told by the owner Manju Khanna that she has “the perfect bride” for him, who was Monica Malik. Their meeting was fixed and he allegedly liked her at first sight. She was 25 years younger than him and told him she was looking for a life partner.
After a few weeks of the initial courtship stage, she allegedly informed him that her first husband had divorced her and that she had found a “perfect gentleman” in Kishore. She even invited him to her Delhi home to meet her mother Madhubala, and her brother Raj. They tied the knot in August 2019, almost a year after the contractor had lost his first wife.
The couple soon got married and lived at his place in Kavi Nagar. But after 2 months, Kishore woke up to an empty home one morning. Monica had disappeared along with all the cash and jewelry in the closet. CCTV footage confirmed Monica leaving with a bag in her hand, presumably with all the valuables. “On October 26, 2019, Monica fled with valuables worth Rs 15 lakh,” Kishore stated in his formal police complaint.
He continues, “I had called up the matrimonial agency again on June 13 this year. The owner, Manju, told me that Monica was now married to a retired judge in Delhi. Despite repeated appeals, she refused to give me their address. Then she threatened to file a false case against me.” He mentioned that the agency owner threatened to frame him and demanded Rs. 20 lakh more.
Reportedly, Kishore later found out about Monica’s previous husband and how he had also met the same fate as him, including the same matrimonial agency fixing the match for them.
SP (city) Abhishek Verma said, “An investigation has been initiated into the complaint. We will check if the matrimonial agency followed all the norms or not.”
Currently, Monica, her family, and the matrimonial agency’s owner have all been booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 419 (cheating by personation), 380 (theft), 384 (extortion), 388 (extortion by threat of accusation of an offense punishable with death or imprisonment for life, etc) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).
What do you think of this incident? Tell us!