Hyderabad: AP Man Held For Marrying 13 Women; Divorcees Primary Targets

HYDERABAD: A man, who allegedly married as many as 13 women within the past four years was finally arrested by the Hyderabad Police, after one of the victims filed and pursued the case.

The accused identified as Adapa Shiva Shankar Babu (35) had cheated these women who were mainly divorcees from the Telugu states and would take huge amounts of money from them and abscond.

The accused who hailed from the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh was already married and his first wife was living in his home town. He would look for well-to-do women who were divorced and seeking alliances on matrimony sites. He would cheat them by showing fake divorce papers and promising them a new life.

Gachibowli police arrested the accused who had cases registered against him in Hyderabad, Rachakonda, Sangareddy, Guntur, Vijayawada, and Anantapur a week after one victim filed a complaint. She had filed a case in the  Ramachandrapuram police station that Shiva Shankar had taken Rs 25 lakh cash and gold worth Rs 7 lakh from her and was not returning the same.

The victim had told in a press conference on July 12 that Babu got in touch with her in 2021 via a matrimony site. He told her that his parents had died and he was working as a software engineer with a hefty monthly salary of Rs 2 lakh. He told her that he was a divorcee and was looking for a suitable wife.

The victim’s parents who believed him got her married to Babu. Later he collected nearly Rs 32 lakh from her parents on the pretext of going to the US. But when there were no signs of him going to the US, her parents asked him to return the money. Babu started avoiding her and her parents leading her to approach the police. When the police called Babu to the police station for questioning, she was shocked to learn that he was already married. The accused came to the police station with a woman and told the police that he would return the money.

The victim met the other woman secretly and inquired about him and was shocked to learn that he was also married to another woman and living in the same colony. He would tell them that he was working day and night shifts and was living with the three of them. The accused had also allegedly cheated a woman from Hyderabad residing in the US to the tune of Rs 35 lakh.

The victim who pursued the case was wondering why one of them was still supporting him even after she knew that he was cheating on so many women. A cheating case under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against the accused, on the basis of a complaint from the victim and the police are investigating further. The victim said that many of the victims were not coming forward to complain as they were worried about losing face in society and had comprised by paying hefty sums to get rid of him.

Also Read: Machilipatnam: SI Arrested By Disha Police For Cheating Woman