Date:11/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/11/stories/2006101122270400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Five arrested on cheating charge

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: The city police on Tuesday arrested five persons, including a woman, on charge of cheating two women by performing their marriages with two Oman nationals.

Police said marriage brokers Mumtaz and Shanawaz, and their associates Zaheeruddin, Mohammed Abdul Qureshi and Rasheed, performed the marriages of two women, who are residents of Talabkatta, on July 16 at Riyasathnagar. The accused also gave Rs. 4,000 each to the parents of the women as `meher,' which was given at the time of marriage to the parents of the brides. The Oman nationals later went to their country.

On September 16, the women got visas and went to Oman the next day. After two days, they came to know that the agents in Hyderabad cheated them as their husbands were suffering from epilepsy.

The fraud came to light when the women informed the matter to their parents on phone on September 28. "Efforts are on to bring back the women from Oman," Santoshnagar Inspector S. Sai Krishna said.