After 32-yr-old man allegedly promises marriage and takes R1.5 lakh from one of his victims, her friends lay trap for him and hand him over to police

A doctor who allegedly cheated several women by promising to marry them has finally been caught by the police, thanks to the friends of one of the victims who came up with a plan to trap him.

The victim, a lawyer by profession who is in her early 40s, landed in the doctor's net after she placed an advertisement last June in a local newspaper saying she was looking for a match. She was approached by Shirish Sharad Puranik (32), who started interacting with her and promised to marry her in January this year.

The victim said Puranik had taken at least Rs 1.5 lakh from her on one pretext or the other. "He demanded money from me to book the hall for our engagement and on top of it even made me pay Rs 30,000 to
buy the engagement ring," the victim said. "After September he stopped answering my calls."

As the woman had no relatives, she told her friends in the Mountaineering Club about the matter.

The bait
Together they hatched a plan wherein her friend contacted Puranik with the excuse that her sister was looking for a match. Puranik agreed to come to a spot in Vadgaon Sheri. "When he approached a spot near Dhayri Bridge, we nabbed him. He even tried to settle the matter with the victim," said a friend on condition of anonymity. "On several occasions he tried to flee from our clutches but we held on to him tight."

The incident took place at 3.30 pm yesterday. The four friends of the victim handed him over to the Shivajinagar police.

Another case against Puranik has been registered at the Chatushrungi police station. He has allegedly duped the victim of Rs 5,000.

PI (Crime) Maya Bankar has appealed to people to come forward with their complaints, if they have been duped by such people.