Lanjigarh: A teenage girl from Kalahandi district narrowly escaped a fraudulent marriage bid with an elderly man in Madhya Pradesh after she was taken there on the promise of her marriage to a young man. The girl was sold to the old man for Rs 60,000, it is learnt.
The matter came to light when the victim dialled emergency line 100 after escaping from the clutches of the elderly man. She was rescued by cops in Bamitha in Madhya Pradesh.
According to the girl, a crook by name Kalicharan Patel had been to her village on the pretext of finding a girl for marriage with Sharman (21), who also hailed from Patel’s Bamitha village.
The girl told the cops that she was unaware of their evil intention and hence went with the two to Bamitha. There, an elderly man, Jagdish Patel, married her.
Jagdish claimed he gave Rs 60,000 to Kalicharan and Sharman to find a girl and arrange the marriage.
Bamitha police station in-charge Tilak Singh said investigation was under way. “The veracity of the statement by the girl is being checked,” he said.
Kalicharan is known in the region for arranging girls from poor states for marriage to old men in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. He would promise girls’ families to have marriage arranged for young men, and then hand over the girls to old men. In the process, he takes hefty commission, police have learnt.
