In a shocking tale that has left a quiet village in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh district reeling, a 40-year-old woman has returned home after eloping with her daughter’s fiance — just 10 days before their scheduled wedding.
What’s more, she now says she’s ready to marry him herself.
Ms Sapna Devi, a homemaker and mother of two, surrendered at the Dadon police station on Wednesday alongside 24-year-old Rahul Kumar, the groom-to-be of her daughter Shivani, reported NDTV.
The duo had vanished on April 6, setting off panic in both families and forcing police to launch a widespread manhunt that extended to Bihar and the Indo-Nepal border.
Defiant and unapologetic, Ms Sapna stood before the police and declared: “I will live with Rahul, whatever happens. I will marry him and start my life anew.”
Her words sent shockwaves through her family, who say they want nothing more to do with her.
Ms Shivani and Mr Rahul’s wedding was set for April 16, reported India Today. Preparations were in full swing when Mr Rahul, under the pretext of going shopping for his wedding clothes, walked out of his house and never came back. Around the same time, Ms Sapna also went missing from her home.
The disappearance initially left families confused. It wasn’t until Ms Shivani’s father, Mr Jitendra Kumar, pieced together Ms Sapna’s frequent phone conversations with Mr Rahul – allegedly lasting up to 20 hours a day – that suspicion turned to reality.
A missing persons report was filed, and soon, the village was buzzing with disbelief: the mother had run away with her daughter’s fiance.
“I live in Bengaluru for work and had returned home recently. I started noticing their closeness, but I never imagined this,” Mr Jitendra told police.
According to Mr Rahul’s statement to police, Ms Sapna emotionally blackmailed him into eloping.
“She told me that if I didn’t meet her at the Aligarh bus stop, she’d end her life,” he claimed.
The couple first travelled to Kasganj, then Bareilly, followed by Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Realising their story had gone viral and the police were on their trail, they fled toward the Nepal border but ultimately returned.
“We got scared. When we saw that the police were everywhere, we decided to come back,” Mr Rahul said. He claimed Ms Sapna had been mistreated at home, both by her husband and in-laws.
Still, when asked if he planned to marry the older woman, Mr Rahul hesitated. “There’s nothing like that,” he said at first. After a pause, he added, “Will do.”
Ms Shivani has been left humiliated and heartbroken by the developments, noted the Times of India.
The man she was preparing to marry vanished with her mother. To make matters worse, she accused Ms Sapna of stealing Rs3.5 lakh ($5,375) in cash and jewellery worth over Rs5 lakh from the family home before fleeing.
Ms Sapna denied the accusation. “I had only Rs200 and a mobile phone with me,” she claimed. Her in-laws are not buying it.
“She’s dead to us,” said Mr Dinesh Kumar, Ms Sapna’s brother-in-law. “She betrayed not just her daughter but the entire family. We want the money and jewellery back – she shouldn’t be allowed to walk away from this.”
Mr Dinesh also dismissed Ms Sapna’s allegations of abuse by her husband. “I’ve stayed at their house for months. I never saw Jitendra lay a hand on her,” he said.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Amrit Jain confirmed that both Ms Sapna and Mr Rahul have been taken into custody for questioning. “Since both are adults, their statements will determine the course of action,” he told the media.
CCTV footage and mobile call records were crucial in tracing the couple’s movement across states. “One police team was deployed in Bihar and another at the Nepal border,” said Station House Officer of Mandrak police station Arvind Kumar. “But in the end, they surrendered voluntarily.”
He added: “The wedding was supposed to be on April 16. It’s unfortunate how things unfolded, especially for the daughter.”
