The number of families in India employing detectives to spy on future brides and grooms is on the rise. Ed Butler investigates.

The main Hindu wedding season is drawing to a close, and about 10% of India’s 20 million marriages will have been arranged online, through matrimonial websites. But the boom in online match-making may also, it seems, have spawned a separate industry. Thousands of middle class Indians are now turning to private detectives to check that the chosen bride or groom is all they claim to be online.

The investigations range from simple financial checks to honey-traps, where they attempt to check how easily the future spouse can be sexually tempted. For Assignment, Ed Butler is in Delhi to investigate the growing phenomenon of the wedding detective.

(Image: A groom assists his bride at a wedding ceremony in India. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)