The Kerala High Court has dismissed a habeas corpus petition filed by a 62-year-old Chennai resident seeking to trace his ‘wife’, whom he alleged was being detained by a few people for monetary gain.

The petition was dismissed on Monday (August 4, 2025) by a Bench of Justices Devan Ramachandran and M.B. Snehalatha after the 44-year-old woman named in the petition appeared before the court and stated that she was neither under detention nor in any danger. She further clarified that she had not married the petitioner, a retired engineer from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, and that she did not wish to have any relationship with him. The two had been ‘friends’ in the past.

The petitioner claimed that he had married the woman, who was traced by the police at Maradu in Kochi on Sunday (August 3, 2025), in 2022 after meeting her through a matrimonial website. In January, she travelled to Kerala from Chennai, and they continued to communicate via WhatsApp until May. On June 6, a person identifying himself as a lawyer reportedly sent him a one-time-view video showing a closed coffin and funeral rituals. He was later informed that his ‘wife’ had passed away. Subsequently, a woman claiming to be a nun contacted the petitioner, confirmed the woman’s death, and demanded ₹10 lakh.

During the interaction with the court on Monday, the woman admitted that she had staged the funeral scene, using footage of her aunt’s funeral, to convince the petitioner that she had died, so that he would stop “stalking and following her.” The woman said that she never expected the matter to escalate to the level of court proceedings.

Rebutting her statements, the petitioner claimed that they had been “married” in a church and produced documents in support of his claim. He alleged that the entire episode was orchestrated by the woman, in collusion with a few of her male friends, to swindle him of over ₹2 crore, and that they had refused to return the money he had given her. He added that he had already initiated legal proceedings against the woman and her ‘accomplices’. In light of the allegations, the court reserved liberty to the parties to pursue appropriate legal remedies regarding the monetary claims.