Bhubaneswar: The Cyber Crime Unit of the Odisha Crime Branch has arrested one Biranchi Narayan Nath, who sexually and financially exploited several middle-aged women seeking second marriages.
Odisha police sources on Friday said the accused created a profile on a matrimonial website under the tagline "Second Marriage," where he posed as a Railway employee, Income Tax Inspector, or Customs & Central Excise Department officer. He specifically targeted middle-aged women who were unmarried, separated, widowed, or divorced.
Initially, Nath sent marriage requests through the website, which led to phone conversations and eventually visits to the victims' homes. He emotionally manipulated the women by promising lifelong support for their children and companionship. Many were drawn to his fake profile and fell victim to his deceit. In some cases, he also promised to help them secure jobs after marriage.
Crime Branch sources said the accused underwent marriage rituals with several of the victims in temples and later cohabited with them in their homes, though he never took any of them to his own residence.
Nath secretly recorded intimate moments and captured nude photos and videos of the victims during video calls. He then used these images to extort money, gold, and other valuables by threatening to make the private photos and videos public on social media if they refused to meet his demands.
The accused used multiple aliases, including Manas Ratha, Pravakar Srivastav, and Biranchi Narayan Nath.
In the case registered by the Cyber Crime Unit of CID-CB, the victim is a woman from Cuttack who lost her husband in a road accident in 2022 and was living with her two daughters. Seeking a secure future for herself and her children, she decided to remarry and registered on the same matrimonial portal in October 2023, where Nath had created multiple fake profiles.
She received a request from a man named Pravakar Srivastav, aged 43, from Khamar, Talcher, who claimed to be a TTI (Travelling Ticket Inspector) in the Railways at Visakhapatnam. He told the victim that he had lost both his wife and mother and was living with his father, who he claimed was a manager at SBI in Rourkela.
On October 7, 2023, Pravakar visited the victim's home and expressed his desire to proceed with the marriage proposal. While the victim's family requested some time to decide, Pravakar began calling her frequently, emotionally trapping her. During video calls, he secretly recorded her nude videos and later took her on trips outside Odisha, using the videos to force her into a physical relationship at various locations.
After a deceptive marriage, he lived with her in her house for five months, continuing to exploit her sexually and financially. He also physically assaulted her whenever she resisted. The victim endured the abuse out of fear of public humiliation, given his threats to release her private videos. Over time, he extorted approximately Rs. 5 lakh and 32 grams of gold from her.
The victim later discovered that Pravakar was involved in similar relationships with other women, prompting her to report the matter to the authorities. Based on her complaint, the CID Crime Branch Cyber Crime Police Station registered a case under sections 323, 384, 385, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 469 of the IPC, read with sections 66(E), 67, and 67(A) of the IT Act.
During the investigation, a team of CID-CB officers arrested the accused and discovered that he had defrauded numerous other women. Cases have been registered against him at various police stations, including Baidyanathpur PS in Berhampur, two in Angul Town PS and Jarpada PS in Angul, Balasore Sadar PS, Chhend PS in Rourkela, Dhenkanal Town PS, and Nayapalli PS and Balipatna PS in Bhubaneswar.
According to Crime Branch sources, the accused has also been involved in similar cases in Rajasthan, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, and Delhi. Significant digital evidence, including private photographs, videos of several women, and fake IDs, has been recovered from him and is being analyzed to determine his involvement in other cases.
