Couple held for looting men through marriage promises.

GUJRAT -- The Hafizabad police claim to have arrested a couple for posing as siblings, convincing men to marry the sister and then looting them. The last man lured into a marriage exposed the duo by lodging a complaint with the police.

Police said the couple looted money, gold jewellery, mobile phones and other valuables from the men they lured into marriage.

Police arrested Shameem and her husband, Umer Daraz, after registration of a case against them and also recovered the loot.

Ali Husnain, the Hafizabad police spokesman, told Dawn over the phone that Shameem Akhtar had filed an application accusing a resident of Kot Nawan and two unidentified men of sexually assaulting her. The Hafizabad Saddar police immediately conducted a raid and apprehended the main suspect.

After the suspect pleaded innocence, Hafizabad District Police Officer Dr Rizwan Ahmed Khan formed an investigation team to dig into the issue. The team found out that Shameem had actually looted the man of Rs500,000, gold jewellery and other valuables by posing as a single woman and promising to marry him. Shameem's husband, Umer Daraz, was her partner in crime and both posed as siblings.

Hafizabad police registered a first information report against the husband and wife and recovered the looted cash and other valuables.

The man accused by Shameem, Kashif Mehmood, revealed that he had met her in a market about a month and a half ago who had introduced herself as Paras. After they exchanged numbers and started talking, she claimed she was looking to get married, while she was actually married with four daughters. Shameem proposed to Mehmood, who accepted as he was also divorced and looking to get married again.

Later, Shameem asked Mehmood for monetary help citing her father's poor health upon which he gave her Rs200,000. She also introduced...