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All the media reports highlight what is true of most scams – Swain successfully fooled targets who were more qualified and capable than him. However, when the targets are mature, working

women, their so-called gullibility seems to add credence to gendered stereotypes about older women being irrational and desperate. Most of the reports also emphasise Swain’s mediocre

appearance and short stature, as though the con would be more credible if he had been tall and handsome. Swain’s “wives” were not looking for superficial attributes like good looks. Rather,

they were looking for markers of stability. His average face and portly carriage made him seem more reliable because the cliché is that the con artist will adopt airs and seem slick. Swain

was the opposite. He was a patient listener. He sent videos of him singing songs. There seemed to be an air of simplicity about him that his targets read as authenticity. What he was

actually doing was playing on the vulnerability that many women feel in societies that look down on single mature women and view their unmarried status as a failure and character flaw. The

public reaction to the media coverage has shown little sympathy for Swain’s victims. As articles on Swain started coming out after his arrest, Rashi would read the comments on social media,

where users accused her of marrying Swain out of greed or of being an ‘aunty’ who lusted after sex and money. Night after night, Rashi has gone through the articles and the comments, all the

while wondering how she could have fallen for Swain’s con. “If you see him, you won’t ever think he can do anything like this,” Rashi told _Newslaundry_. ‘IT’S LIKE A MIRACLE’ “He [Swain]

would target women who were between the ages of 45 and 50, women who were well-educated and well-established. He’d scam the women of Rs 10-20 lakh. In some cases, he’d take gold from them,”

said Kaur. “It is surprising as this was being done on a large-scale by one man who was in his late 60s.” Cases of polygamy aren’t unusual in India, but Swain’s case stands out even for the

police. “A case like this, where he has married between 18 to 27 women – it’s like a miracle,” said Sanjeev Satpathy, assistant commissioner of police, who is leading the case. Tracing

Swain’s phone records, the police have spoken to 106 people who they suspect to be victims in marriage and financial fraud. Yet only three of the women Swain defrauded tried to lodge

complaints against Swain. None of them knew the scale of his operation or that there was anyone else who had complained about Swain to the police. Through shaadi.com, Swain had access to

women from all over the country. His victims are scattered across India and this proved to be a challenge for the police. “Initially, we could not trace Swain,” said Satpathy. “He would keep

moving cities across India – Guwahati one day, Bengaluru the next, Indore after that. During Covid, it was all the more difficult. But we knew he would come to Odisha, especially

Bhubaneswar as he had property here,” said Satpathy. The investigators have also learnt that Swain threatened at least some of his wives “in different ways” if they “tried to raise their

voices against him”. However, Swain’s tactics go beyond obvious coercion. He persuaded the women he targeted to believe in him. Two women – one from Telangana and another from Andhra Pradesh

– continue to insist Swain is a “gentleman” to the police, even after being informed of Swain’s scams. The first time Swain asked Rashi for money after they got married was when he told her

he was setting up a medical college. He told her his own bank account had been frozen and that he needed her to give him Rs 1 lakh. Altogether, Swain took almost Rs 10 lakh from Rashi, who

reached out to her family and asked them to help Swain financially. Her sister in-law, for instance, loaned Rashi Rs 1 lakh, which Rashi gave to Swain. Ultimately, Rashi’s brother would end

up paying the rent of Rs 30,000 for the flat in Dwarka that was supposed to be Rashi’s marital home with Swain. The cheques that Swain gave the landlord invariably bounced. The financial

losses have been severe for Rashi and her family, who dipped into their hard-earned savings to support Swain. Yet, what ultimately broke the relationship was not the money that Swain stole,

but the loneliness of Rashi’s married life. CATCHING A CON ARTIST Before they’d got married, Swain had told Rashi he wanted her to always be by his side. He said he wanted Rashi to accompany

him on all his work trips. Rashi imagined a married life in which she divided her time between Bhubaneswar, where Swain had a home, and their rented place in Dwarka. Instead, much of

Rashi’s marriage was a study in solitude. Swain would come to the Dwarka flat only for a few days every two to three months.