Hyderabad: The city police have registered a case of cheating and harassment against a non-resident Indian who allegedly divorced his wife through a newspaper advertisement.

Mohd Mustaquddin, the accused, married the complainant, a 25-year-old woman, in January 2015 and took her to Saudi Arabia where he worked, the police said.

Last month the couple, with their 10-month-old baby, returned to Hyderabad, and Mustaquddin then went back to Saudi Arabia. His wife lodged a complaint with Moghalpura police in Hyderabad alleging that Mustaquddin had divorced her through an advertisement published in a local Urdu newspaper. Before that he had been harassing her for dowry of Rs 20 lakh, said Assistant Commissioner of Police S Gangadhar.

According to the complainant, after Mustaquddin returned to Saudi Arabia, her in-laws barred her from entering their house. Two days ago she saw an advertisement in an Urdu newspaper, placed by her husband’s lawyer, which stated that Mustaquddin had given her ‘talaq’.

“She tried to contact Mustaquddin several times over phone but he did not take her calls, so she lodged the complaint,” the police officer said. Police registered a case under IPC sections 498 (A) (husband or relative of husband subjecting woman to cruelty), 420 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) against Mustaquddin. “We are conducting probe and also verifying if a divorce announced through a newspaper is valid under the Sharia (Muslim law),” the ACP said.

Last month, a 38-year-old man was arrested in Hyderabad for cheating his wife by giving her ‘talaq’ through a post card within eight days of marriage.

Another local man, based in the US, allegedly gave ‘talaq’ to his wife through WhatsApp. The case came to light in February when she approached the police alleging that her in-laws tried to murder her.

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