Thirty-five-year old Manoj Gahlyan, seemed like a perfect match listed on matrimonial apps including Shaadi.com and Jeevansathi.com. He presented himself as a charming, well-paid Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) employee. But the real man behind the online listing was a former security guard, who had turned matchmaking into a nightmare for over 50 women, whom he had duped for over seven years.
According to police sources, the man posed as a General Manager of DMRC and claimed to earn Rs 15 to 20 lakhs. Gahlyan, a native of Jorashi Khalsa village in Haryana’s Panipat district, has been using this claim to dupe women since 2017.
However, he was exposed when a 35-year-old woman, who works in a nationalised bank, on November 23, stated in her police complaint that she had created a marriage profile on Jeevansathi, through which she had met Gahlyan online. “After they connected through the app, he lured her to talking and meeting to get to know her better for marriage, and then obtained her bank account number and credit card details, and made unauthorised transactions without her knowledge,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vichitra Veer said.
The DCP added that after receiving the information through the complaint, the police team swung into action and found, through sources and information openly available on the internet, that the person named Manoj Gahlyan had been duping innocent and gullible women of their money.
The police suspect that about hundreds of women have been lured by him in a similar manner and have also contacted three to four victims. “However, due to shame or guilt, they are not coming and giving us the information and are unlikely to report. Investigation regarding the number of victims and the probable amount that he might have defrauded, is underway,” the DCP said, adding that they will now trace his bank accounts to ascertain the exact amount of money he has cheated from the women.
He was arrested after a raid in Northeast Delhi’s Usmanpur area and five debit cards and a mobile phone bought using the complainant’s card were recovered from him. However, this is not the first case of the manner reported this year in the National Capital. The Delhi Crime Branch arrested a 38-year-old man, identified as Mukeem Ayyub Khan, in September for allegedly duping over 50 women across several States. He would pose as a government official on various matrimonial sites to deceive high-profile professional women.
Khan told police that he allegedly created multiple fake identities on popular matrimonial sites targeting unmarried, widowed, or divorced Muslim women. He would tell them that he is a Government servant, struggling to raise his daughter after the death of his wife.
“He would also meet these women’s families to talk about marriage and to fix a date for the wedding. Once these women trusted him, he would take money from them, under the pretense of booking a resort or marriage hall or hotel for the wedding,” said DCP (Crime Branch) Sanjay Sain.
According to DCP Sain, in some cases, he even convinced the victims to buy expensive items such as mobile phones, jewellery, and vehicles in their names, which he later would sell for cash. He’d also make them buy his flight tickets when he’d come to visit their families.
