In a shocking mass marriage scam in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, forty-two hopeful grooms arrived for a collective wedding ceremony only to find that the brides did not exist.
Reportedly, on 24 May 2026, a peculiar case was unfolded that outlined a massive marriage scam faced by 42 unmarried men from different districts of central and western Madhya Pradesh. They have been cozened by scammers who exploited their difficulty in finding suitable brides for their sons, promising them matches with young women from an orphanage called "Matru Chhaya Ashram" in Indore.
Credibility was established through constant WhatsApp chats, repeated phone conversations, and video calls. They deliberately targeted the marginalised men, mostly from Vidisha, Shajapur, Bhopal and Dewas district, exploiting their aspirations with empty promises. Reputedly, police tend to accuse pictures of women fake and taken from "social media", and eventually target innocent families claiming they were potential brides.
Early in the morning, some grooms and their families arrived at the venue as early as 8 am. However, upon arrival, they found no wedding decorations, no arrangements for the ceremony, and no brides present. The organisers, Mukesh Bairagi and his wife Sunita, were there and repeatedly assured the families that the brides from Indore were on their way.
The families were kept waiting with various changing excuses throughout the day. This continued until around 10 pm, when frustration boiled over and the crowd staged a protest, which eventually required police to step in and manage the situation.
“Most of those men who have been duped include those who are unmarried since the last few years, particularly owing to their weak economic position. Pictures of girls were shared on our cell phones by those who promised marriage. Now we’ve come to know that the pictures sent to us were not of girls from an Indore orphanage, instead they were budding young models, whose pictures were downloaded from internet and sent to us, mentioning that they were orphan girls, who will be married to us at a mass marriage ceremony at the hilltop temple on May 25", said Bhopal resident Om Prakash Prajapati, who paid 15,000 to the couple Mukesh and Sunita Bairagi.
It is devastating to realise how completely their trust was destroyed. They were completely blinded because someone chose to play cruel games with their feelings, making them believe a lie just to exploit them. It is devastating to realise how completely their trust was destroyed. They were completely blinded because someone chose to play cruel games with their feelings, making them believe a lie just to exploit them.
“Each one of us who has come here from different districts paid sums ranging between Rs 15,000 and Rs 25,000 to a couple, who sent us pictures of beautiful girls, telling us they were girls from an orphanage in Indore, with whom we would be married here at the Mata Chamunda Tekri temple in Dewas on May 25. We came here, but none of the girls has come here throughout the day,” said Bhopal resident Om Prakash Prajapati. Mukesh and Sunita Bairagi looted between ₹12,000 and ₹20,000 individually in the name of the exchange of a beautiful bride. The total amount involved in the alleged fraud is estimated to be over **₹10 lakh** (approximately $13,400 USD).
Mukesh Bairagi alleged that his elder brother, Dinesh Das Bairagi, plotted the entire situation. “My brother Dinesh Das Bairagi works at a factory in Indore. He told me that arrangements were to be made for the mass marriage ceremony of girls from an Indore orphanage. Dinesh Bhaiya provided me with the contact numbers of various families, whose unmarried sons would be married to those girls at a mass marriage ceremony at the hilltop temple on May 25. While all the grooms arrived here on Sunday, neither Bhaiya nor any of the 42 brides arrived here. My brother’s phone is sounding switched off, we’ve been cheated by him,” said Mukesh.
Mukesh's father-in-law, Narsingh Das Bairagi, is also accused to be the important part of this fraud by playing the role of a middleman and connecting Mukesh, Dinesh and Sunita to targeted unmarried men across various districts.
Jaiveer Bhadoria, SP of Dewas district, said the case has been filed on the complaint of one of the victims, Abhishek, under Section 318 BNS. Madhya Pradesh Police arrested a couple, Mukesh and Sunita Das Bairagi, after police filed a case against four people. Two other accused are currently on the run.
The scam exploited a genuine social pressure point — the difficulty many rural families in India face in finding brides for their sons — and combined it with a veneer of legitimacy through fake profiles, promises of a fully arranged ceremony, and a real venue setting. It's a grim reminder of how matrimonial fraud is increasingly using social media to prey on vulnerable families.
Their trust was completely broken by this orchestrated deception. Even though the scammers were eventually arrested and brought to justice, the victims gained absolutely nothing back. This situation exposes a dark irony in the nation's governance: a justice system optimised for prosecution but completely indifferent to victim recovery.
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