'Conman' marries 14 women in seven different states, police say

A 54-year-old man from India put his own spin on the Tinder Swindler after marrying 14 women across the country and scamming them out of thousands of pounds, police say.

Bidhu Prakash Swain, who it is claimed often went by his alias Ramesh Swain, has been arrested after primarily targeting middle-aged women and divorcees. In addition, he is alleged to have fraudulently posed as a doctor at the Union Health Ministry.

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

One of his alleged victims was an advocate at the Supreme Court and a senior Central Armed Police Forces official. He later married the woman and is accused of duping her out of nearly £10,000 (Rs 10 lakh).

Swain's victims weren't always people either, it is said. He took it one step further and scammed organisations and sacred places of worship.

He managed to scam the Gurdwara, where one of his marriages was solemnised, out of almost £11,000 (Rs 11 lakh) with the promise of building a hospital, his accusers claim.

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According to the news outlet, Swain is a father of five children and had married for the first time in 1982 and then again in 2022. Between 2002 and 2020, he had befriended many women and married them too.

He is accused of securing the marriages, staying with women for a few days and then leaving them at their parents' homes while he travelled for work.

A Delhi-based teacher filed a complaint in July 2021. After spending a few months with him in Bhubaneswar, she said she realised he was a fraud. Upon arrest, officials say they discovered he had fooled 13 more women he met on social media and matrimonial sites.

The police say they recovered 11 cash cards, four identification cards with different names and a school certificate using a separate identity. He was also frauding unemployed youths with the promise of providing jobs or securing admissions on medicine courses while posing as the deputy director-general of the Central Health Education and Training, it is alleged.

The police will seek Swain's remand. "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," the DCP 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," said DCP Umashankar Dash.

Indy100 reached out to Bhubaneswar Police for comment.

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