Gurugram: For a man who has built his public image chasing down cases of “love jihad” and inter-faith elopements in Haryana, Raj Kumar alias Bittu Bajrangi did not see this one coming.
The founder of the Gau Raksha Bajrang Force, who shot to national attention as a key accused in the 2023 Nuh communal violence case, complained to police a few months ago that he was duped by a gang running a fake marriage racket. The 48-year-old claimed they defrauded him of Rs 41,000 last September by promising to find him a bride.
Now, the Crime Branch of Faridabad Police has arrested five people in connection with the case. They were identified as Danish Chaman (35) his wife Mahavish Danish (27), Sachin (27), and Sanjeev (52), all residents of Aligarh, and Pradeep (34) from Bulandshahr.
All five were produced in court on Saturday and remanded in police custody for further questioning.
According to the complaint filed by Bajrangi at Sarai Khwaja police station, he was introduced to the gang through an acquaintance named Bantu alias Avinash. Bajrangi, a resident of Sanjay Enclave in Faridabad, had asked Bantu to help him find a bride.
Bantu, in turn, put him in touch with a woman called Rani alias Lakshmi, who claimed to arrange marriages for a living.
Bajrangi told police he was called to Aligarh two or three times to meet prospective brides, but did not like any of them. Eventually, a photograph of a woman named “Pooja” was sent to his phone, and he approved of the match.
On 5 September last year, Rani, Mahavish Danish, allegedly posing as Pooja, and others claiming to be her family travelled from Aligarh to Bajrangi’s home in Faridabad, where they collected Rs 11,000 as tika money to formalise the engagement.
A day later, they allegedly took another Rs 30,000 from him, citing wedding expenses, and fixed 7 September 2025 as the wedding date at a temple in Aligarh.
When Bajrangi reached the temple on the appointed day, nobody from the bride’s side showed up, he said in the complaint.
Investigators say the entire “family” that visited Bajrangi’s house fabricated the alleged fraud.
Mahavish Danish played the bride “Pooja”, Pradeep posed as her uncle, Sanjeev as another relative, Sachin acted as the middleman, and Danish Chaman passed himself off as the bride’s brother.
Also Read: Nuh violence puts focus on Meo Muslims of Mewat — who they are & what is their history
Repeat offenders
Police said the group had carried out similar frauds in the past.
According to police, Mahavish Danish has already served time in two similar cheating cases, while Pradeep has been jailed earlier in Aligarh and Dasna (Noida) on charges of cheating people in the name of marriage.
Investigators believe the group has been running this marriage fraud across Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and possibly other states for years. They are now trying to establish the full scale of their operation.
Faridabad Police spokesperson Yashpal told ThePrint that teams are conducting raids to trace Rani alias Lakshmi, described as the mastermind of the racket, who continues to evade arrest.
“We are questioning the five accused in custody, and more details about the gang’s other victims are expected to emerge,” he said.
Who is Bittu Bajrangi
Bittu Bajrangi’s real name is Raj Kumar Panchal. A vegetable vendor-turned self-styled cow protector from Faridabad’s Parvatiya Colony, he heads the Gau Raksha Bajrang Force, an outfit that has for years positioned itself as a vigilante group targeting inter-faith relationships and alleged religious conversions in the region.
He built a following, particularly after helping a Faridabad man file the first case under Haryana’s anti-conversion law over his daughter’s elopement with a Muslim neighbour in December 2022.
Sanskriti Shukla, a Faridabad woman who converted to Islam and married Javed Khan after a seven-year relationship, was forced into hiding along with her husband following threats from vigilante groups, including Bajrangi’s Gau Raksha Bajrang Force.
Sanskriti’s father, D.K. Shukla filed a case against Javed under Haryana’s anti-conversion law two months after the wedding, alleging forced conversion. Shukla has openly credited Hindutva groups and Bajrangi for their support.
Bajrangi made headlines in August 2023, when he was arrested over his alleged role in the 31 July Nuh violence, which erupted after a Vishva Hindu Parishad-organised Shobha Yatra passed through Muslim-majority areas. The clashes left six people dead and over 70 injured.
Police accused Bajrangi of brandishing weapons and threatening a senior woman police officer during the procession.
He was booked under multiple sections of the IPC and the Arms Act, along with 15-20 others. He was caught on camera trying to flee before being overpowered by police in Faridabad‘s Dabua area, and spent time in judicial custody before securing bail.
In September 2024, Bittu Bajrangi filed his nomination paper as an independent candidate from the Faridabad NIT assembly constituency.
However, he later withdrew from the contest and extended his support to the BJP candidate, Satish Kumar Phagna, who eventually won the election by over 33,000 votes.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)