In what can put grooms’ families on the back foot as far as demanding dowries are concerned, the family of a girl, in a brilliant move, captured the dowry demands of the boy’s family with the help of four spy cameras. They then lodged a complaint with the Mulund police on Tuesday night, after which the boy and his father were arrested for breach of trust and cheating.
The girl’s father Ramdhani Tiwari (62) living in Mulund Colony, lodged a complaint against call centre executive Niklesh Pathak (32) and his father Suresh (65) with the Mulund police on Tuesday night. The police has also booked Niklesh’s mother Vimla. According to Mr Tiwari’s complaint to the police, the Tiwari family came to know of the Pathak family through a mediator in their community.
“I met the Pathak family at their residence in Airoli, after which the marriage was fixed. I agreed to give my daughter a share of my property, cash and some other valuables as dictated by the rituals. The wedding was fixed for June 19,” said Mr Tiwari.
In his complaint, Mr Tiwari alleged that he gave the Pathak family Rs 1.5 lakhs during the engagement ceremony and a sum of Rs 2.5 lakhs later. “Since December 2009, we paid them Rs 4 lakhs worth of cash and other valuables worth Rs 2.80 lakhs, with a total of Rs 6.8 lakhs. However, the boy’s father contacted us demanding a car and threatened to cancel the wedding if we didn’t get one for them,” Mr Tiwari added.
Furious over the Pathaks’ demands, the Tiwari family then made their move. They went to the Pathaks’ Airoli residence on May 18 and May 23 and secretly recorded their dowry demands on spy cameras.