13-time bigamist used the web to find wives

Published on Thursday 27 August 2009 22:15

A MAN has been arrested in Mumbai for marrying 14 women, each unaware of his other wives, over two and a half years.

Tushar Waghmare, 40, used matchmaking websites to find his brides. He was arrested after one wife caught him living with another.

Police officers said Waghmare registered his profile on a website, stating that he was divorced and looking for working Brahmin – upper caste – women who were either divorcees or widows. He claimed to have divorced his wife in 2006.

Waghmare fixed appointments with his targets at one of his rented apartments in the city, after visiting profiles of women on marriage websites.

"None of the women or their parents ever thought of doing a background check on him, as they would be impressed with his job profile," deputy commissioner RM Vhatkar said.

Waghmare, who has since been sacked from his job with Air India, earned 946 a month and reportedly took care of all 14 "wives". Three of them were professionals and the rest were housewives.

He would spend three consecutive days with each of his wives and then leave on the pretext of attending meetings in different states.

His last wife, a 29-year-old divorced architect, found him out when she visited him at one of his other homes. Waghmare married her on 11 August, and a few days after the honeymoon she was asked to visit New Delhi on work.

"I was shocked when he told me I could take my own time and return whenever I wanted to," she said.

"What shocked me even more was when he told me he would not mind at all if I had extramarital affairs.

"This prompted me to go to his flat, where I met a 29-year-old woman who claimed that he married her in April 2009," the woman, who was not named, told police.