Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: An unemployed man in Bihar was so desperate to make an easy living without having to work that he married four times in three years and lived off the money and gold he got as dowry each time, but he was caught two months after his fifth wedding.

Ranveer Kumar, 24, is currently under treatment at a hospital in Sheikhpura district for the injuries he sustained after being beaten up by the relatives of his fifth wife. After the relatives found out about Kumar’s past four weddings in a span of just three years and the reason he had been doing so, they approached police.

“We have now received allegations of the series of marriages this man has undergone in a short period. There have been no such complaints against him before this with police. A case has been lodged against him and investigations are on,” said Sheikhpura SP Rajendra Kumar Bheel. Ranveer Kumar would be taken into custody and interrogated soon after he recovers from his injuries, he added.

Police sources said Ranveer Kumar had carried out his fifth wedding with a girl from Dhankaul village under Ariar police station two months ago by describing himself as a bachelor. But this week, when his fifth wife had come to her parents’ house, one of Kumar’s friends who knew about his shoddy past marriages happened to meet her relatives and spilled the beans. The relatives, as full of shame as livid they were, invited Kumar home and gave him a sound

thrashing before handing him over to police.

“He used to carry out his weddings in such secrecy that even his neighbours would not get wind of it. He would live happily by using the money and gold and silver ornaments he received at each wedding. When he had nothing more left to sell, he would look for a new bride for a fresh wedding with him,” said a police officer familiar with the charges against Kumar. “His wives of the time left him one after another as soon as they learnt of his intentions,” he added.

Police plan to contact all the five wives of Kumar to build a strong case against him. “But it remains mysterious why none of his previous four wives never approached police with complaints about him,” said the official.