Ghaziabad, Sep 17 (IANS) Ghaziabad police Saturday said it could not arrest a businessman accused by an NRI woman of abandoning her after marriage as he had already moved court to surrender.


"When a culprit applies to surrender before the court, the police can't arrest him," said Circle Officer (CO) R.K. Singh said.

However, legal experts were not convinced by the explanation.

"The police seems to be in collusion with the culprit. The CO's statement is hard to believe... We have witnessed cases when the police have arrested culprits from outside the court," advocate Khalid Khan said.

The case came to light Friday, when the 22-year-old woman from Muscat accused Pulkit Bharti, 23, the owner of a professional studies college here, of enticing her over the internet.

After she came to India, Pulkit gave her a job in the college, and married her Aug 16.

He then kept her in a hotel for 20 days.

On Sep 9, when she insisted on visiting his house, Pulkit - son of a steel trader - told her to wait at the hotel while he went out to convince his parents to accept her as his wife. However, he never returned.

The police earlier said they have registered a criminal case against the culprit under stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code - for rape and demanding dowry.