New Delhi: On most evenings, 35-year-old Manoj Gahlyan would return home from duty, shed his uniform and don a suit. It was time for a date. However, when he met the women he contacted through matrimonial websites, he was no longer a security guard. Instead, he turned into a ‘high-ranking official’ at a govt department or a senior executive at a firm — a guise used to dupe hundreds of women of money under the pretext of marriage.
On Wednesday, Gahlyan’s run ended as he was arrested from Usmanpur area in northeast Delhi. Police said he had been conning women since 2017.
The fraud emerged after police received a complaint on Nov 23 from a woman who said she met Gahlyan on a matrimonial website. Initially, he lured her into conversation and meetings, then allegedly duped her after obtaining details of her bank account and credit card. A case was subsequently registered.
Deputy commissioner of police (West) Vichitra Veer formed a team under Cyber Cell (West) SHO Dharmender to probe the matter. During investigation, cops discovered several fake profiles of the accused on various matrimonial sites. He donned a beard in one profile but was clean-shaven in another; his attire kept varying too.
In one of the profiles, Gahlyan claimed he was a senior manager, earned Rs 15-20 lakhs per annum and held degrees like MBA, PGDM, BE and BTech. In another, he masqueraded as a high-ranking govt official. One such profile even found its way to X, where a woman claimed Gahlyan told her he was a senior Delhi Metro executive. She alleged he was “misusing women financially and physically”.
During interrogation, Gahlyan told police he had worked as a guard for various security companies. In 2017, he came up with the plan to create fake profiles on matrimonial websites and target vulnerable women seeking companionship or marriage. Gahlyan’s modus operandi was to lure women into a relationship by spinning elaborate tales, police said. Posing as a high-ranking manager in a reputable company, he used to boast an impressive salary profile to attract gullible women seeking prospective partners.
Once he gained their trust, Gahlyan would arrange meetings with women to “know them better” before marriage and charm them with his fabricated stories, cops said. He would then allegedly manipulate them into sharing their credit and debit card details, siphoning off money from their accounts. After duping the women, he used to delete his profiles, an investigator said.
Police found the names and phone numbers of 50 women from Gahlyan’s phone. “We contacted some of them, but due to fear of social stigma, they were reluctant to report the matter. Even their family members were hesitant to come forward,” an officer said.
