The Ahmedabad Railway Police have arrested a man on theft charges, only to discover that he had deceived 15 women into marriage by concealing his true identity.
The accused, Mohammad Shahbaz, had been posing as a Major in the Indian Army under the false name of Harshit Chaudhary. He is now facing multiple fraud cases involving women from Gujarat, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand. One of his victims has also filed a case against him in Aligarh.
Shahbaz, a resident of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh, was initially arrested by the Ahmedabad Railway Police for stealing on a Vande Bharat train in Gujarat. During his arrest, authorities recovered a fake identity card bearing the name ‘Major Harshit Chaudhary.’
According to SP Balram Meena of the Western Railway Police, Mohammad Shahbaz is married with two children. While the railway police have not yet filed any conspiracy charges, the investigation revealed that Shahbaz used Shaadi.com and dating apps to target women.
Further inquiries uncovered three previous cases against him, and a fake Aadhar card identifying him as an Army Major was found in his possession. Shahbaz admitted to using this fraudulent identity to trick women into marrying him.
Shahbaz is suspected of stealing a passenger’s trolley bag on the Vande Bharat train. CCTV footage and the passenger chart showed he had booked his seat under the alias “Harshit Manoj Singh Chaudhary.” This led the Ahmedabad Railway Police to track him down and arrest him.
During questioning, Shahbaz claimed to have joined the Army in 2015 but said he had been suspended until June 2024 due to being unfit for service. The investigation also revealed that he used fake identity cards and a fake PAN card for both railway and air travel.
