Just ₹5 lakh for bride in four days: Manorama News exposes Malayali-run marriage racket in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Four days, ₹5 lakh and a bride to take home! That is the package Malayali brokers in Hyderabad are offering men looking for a second marriage.

From arranging meetings with prospective brides to conducting the wedding and sending the woman away with the groom, the brokers promise to complete the entire process within four days. A large number of their clients are from Keralam, including Malayalis working in the Gulf.

An undercover investigation by Manorama News has exposed a marriage racket in which young women from economically disadvantaged families in Hyderabad are lined up to be shown to prospective grooms, their worth negotiated and marriages arranged for men, many of them well past 50.

The investigation was carried out by Manorama News Principal Correspondent S Mahesh Kumar along with Senior Cameraman Mohammed Shameem, who spent several days in Hyderabad navigating the network and its intermediaries. The trail began with a Facebook advertisement claiming that brides were readily available in Hyderabad for men seeking a second marriage.

When the team approached the brokers posing as prospective clients, they were greeted by Malayali intermediaries who were already busy arranging a marriage for a 60-year-old Malayali millionaire based in Dubai. The brokers assured that they would soon find a bride, arrange the wedding and send her along with the groom within four days.

The scale of the racket's operations became evident during the meetings that followed. In just seven hours, the team was shown as many as five women aged between 18 and 30. The terms of the deal were clear: if a prospective groom selected a woman, ₹5 lakh had to be paid to her father and another ₹1 lakh to the broker. Most of these women came from financially struggling families.

The investigation also exposed how these women were presented to prospective grooms, with little regard for their consent. In one instance, a 20-year-old from Shastri Nagar was brought to her grandmother's house for a meeting. The single-room house, thatched with corrugated sheets, did not even have a chair; the woman sat on a mat spread on the floor. She was ready for the wedding and did not even require seeing the prospective groom.

In another instance, a woman broker took the team to meet a prospective bride who had studied only up to Class VII. When told that the groom was 44, the broker said even a 60-year-old man would be acceptable. After pointing out the woman's height and hair, she even made her stand outside in the daylight for exhibition before the prospective groom. Within a short span of time, three more young women were lined up for similar display.

The meetings were followed by negotiations over the price. According to these brokers, younger and more attractive women commanded higher amounts, with some deals going up to ₹20 lakh. Though particularly attractive women could fetch that much, they added that bargaining could bring the amount down to ₹10 lakh.

The network also maintains a system for keeping prospective brides available for clients. For instance, one woman broker was found accommodating young women in a hotel and bringing them out one after another to be shown to visiting men. Many of the prospective grooms come from Keralam and other states without informing their families that they are seeking another marriage. A considerable number of them are aged above 50.

The brokers also outlined how quickly a deal could be converted into a marriage. Once a groom selected a woman, the next step was a ceremony called 'Moonh meetta', in which he offered sweets to the bride to formalise the match. The wedding could then be held the following day. After the ceremony, the groom could take the woman wherever he wished, assured the brokers.