A team of Karnataka Police nabbed Komala, 35, and her associates from Maharashtra based on a complaint filed by a Tumakuru man claiming that she cheated his family on the pretext of marriage. However, it was only a matter of time before the cops learnt that it was just the tip of the iceberg...
Tumakuru district's Gubbi Police picked up Komala from Maharashtra after a family complained that she posed as an orphan to marry their son in 2023 and left their house on the pretext of visiting her native for a few days. When she never returned, they launched a probe and realised how they were tricked into giving her associates, who posed as her uncle and aunt, a few lakhs of rupees and a mangalsutra of gold.
When Komala and her associates Siddappa (45) and Lakshmi Shambhulinga Kubusada (40) were finally tracked down, it came to light that the trio were professional fraudsters who used the "orphan" modus operandi to cheat bachelors in rural Karnataka and Maharashtra. After getting separated from her husband, Komala reportedly married at least three men including the Gubbi native and fled with money given by their families for wedding expenses. When she was finally nabbed last week, it had only been a few days since she married her last victim, Indian Express said in a report.
A mother of two teenage kids, Komala always introduced Siddappa and Lakshmi as her uncle and aunt -- her only surviving relatives. They always convinced the groom's family to hand over a few lakhs for the wedding arrangements at their end. Once the marriage is over, Komala would tell the groom's kin that it is customary to spend three days at her native before starting a new life with the family, the daily said. Once she leaves the house, she will become unreachable via phone and never return.
When the Gubbi family set out to Hubballi to find the missing daughter-in-law, they realised the cheating and filed a police complaint. Recently, the cops managed to trace Komala's gang to Miraj in Maharashtra’s Sangli district. Had the cops managed to zero in on them a few days earlier, the gang's latest victim could have escaped.
