27 Wives in 10 States & Counting

Insight Bureau: Sagas of modern dupers are creating hype these days with a number of such cases reported daily in the country. One such shocking case of a 66-year-old con man married to 27 women from ten different States and then duping them all is for sure weighing on all those pre heard stories.

The man identified as Ramesh Kumar Swain has been arrested by the Odisha police while he was travelling in a car in Bhubaneswar. Now his list of wives as per the police has bought him into the news.

Swain is one of Odisha’s biggest imposters who married middle-aged, educated, and well-to-do women of various states only to dupe them later.  Among his brides were a Supreme Court lawyer, an officer of the Kerala Administrative Service, a Chartered Accountant, an officer in a paramilitary force, a senior executive from an insurance company, and doctors.

Interestingly, he had his bride’s numbers saved in his phone as  “madam one”, “madam doctor”, “madam Bhilai”, “madam teacher”, “madam Guwahati”, “madam Bangalore”, “to be wife Dhenkanal” and “to be wife Jagatsinghpur”.

The 5 feet 2 inches tall man who is educated only up to Class X, is also alleged of defrauding 13 banks in Kerala of Rs 1 crore through 128 forged credit cards, cheating people in Hyderabad of Rs 2 crore, and promising seats in MBBS courses for their children.

The doc is also said to be involved in organ trafficking as he had multiple clinics. Further investigation is going on, sources said.

The police said the accused, approached women under the fake identity of a doctor to deceive several of them. Bhubaneswar Police has set up a task force to reach out to all his victims which so far, have amounted to over 90 women tricked by him.

The sexagenarian Ramesh Chandra Swain, acquired different names like Dr Bibhu Prakash Swain and Dr Ramani Ranjan Swain, to cheat people. He targeted his victims through matrimonial sites like Jeevansathi.com, Shaadi.com and Bharatmatrimony.com. Swain is from a coastal village in Odisha’s Kendrapara district.

As per sources, one of his wives was also involved in this scandal. She was webbed at first but later decided to join hand with his 420 husband. Now the lady has gone missing.

Ramesh was arrested after 38 years after a police complaint was lodged by one of his wives from Delhi whom he married in 2020. The arrest was made under sections 498 (A), 419, 468, 471 and 494 of the Indian Penal Code,

Swain got married for the first time in 1982, and the last in 2020. His last marriage to a teacher was solemnised at an Arya Samaj temple in Delhi.

A special squad has brought Ramesh’s sister Rashmita Beura to Bhubaneswar for quizzing her in connection with her alleged involvement in the frauds committed by her brother. She has been kept at an undisclosed location where she will be questioned. Significantly, other members of her family managed to escape from the house during the police raid.

A lot of skeletons may tumble out as the investigation continues. Whether duping the women, defrauding the job aspirants or alleged organ racket, new details are emerging every passing day.