A man accused of cheating several young women after promising them marriage and then extorting cash is arrested in Mangaluru, the Mangaluru police said. The accused, who went by the names Sushanth and Ankush, was identified as Sushanth Poojari from Kavoor and purported to use multiple names to captivate the trust of women using matrimonial sites. He is reported to have committed fraud in Mumbai, Udupi, Bengaluru, and Karkala, leaving a long trail of victims.
Police investigations show that Sushanth would approach women first via matrimonial platforms, persuading them that he intended to marry. Once trust had been built up, he would follow up through marriage ceremonies or promising marriage, then gradually start demanding money. They said he took money bit by bit, frequently pretending he was looking after his family or in need of it.
The turning point was when a young Mumbai woman traced Sushanth up to Mangaluru after he allegedly cheated her of ₹6.6 lakh. On the 2nd of February, 2023 she married him in Navi Mumbai and later learnt he was a fraud. After her complaint, police filed a case with the Kavoor police station and arrested Sushanth. Another man, Bhaskar from Mulki, who had helped Sushanth to arrange a marriage in Mumbai, was also arrested.
Investigations showed that Sushanth had been consorting with some of the same frauds starting by 2021. In Udupi, he married two women and took money from them. In Mumbai, he had cheated at least two more women with promises of marriage. He persuaded two young women in Bengaluru that they’d be married, and he gathered money. At Karkala he went about the same process again and again promising marriage, then obtaining money. He used separate names and forms of identity each time, as a protection against being caught.
In his statement, Sushanth confessed that he had committed the frauds and detailed how he had deceived several women from different cities. Police said he had pointed to matrimonial sites as his ‘number one’ weapon for locating and targeting victims. His cheating spree exposes the perils of online matrimonial fraud and the crucial need for higher vigilance to girls in the years to come.
So with the apprehension of Sushanth Poojari came that disturbing pattern of marriage‑related fraud against unsuspecting women. By leveraging trust and cultural norms and traditions of trust, he effectively defrauded people, he was able to pull off big bank fraud schemes with victims of large sums of money. Police are investigating who’s to come who is currently searching for the victims and bring justice. The case is also a reminder to be suspicious before getting into online matrimonial relationships to ensure a double commitment before your identity is verified and avoid unverified in your future choices.
