Kanpur (UP), Jul 22 (IANS): In a novel experiment, the Kanpur police used a marriage proposal to trap a criminal who had been eluding arrest for the past several months.

A head-constable and a constable from the Kakadeo police station reached the house of the criminal, Dharmendra Chandel a.k.a Beenu Thakur, in Udaipur village in Sachendi area, posing as brothers of a girl and offered a marriage proposal along with Rs 10 lakh as dowry.

The two cops took along an elderly man, whom they introduced as the girl's father. They also carried a photograph of a girl.

The family of the criminal immediately agreed to the proposal and then the cops insisted on meeting the prospective groom.

Beenu Thakur, who is a notorious auto-thief, was in Delhi but he rushed home to finalize the proposal on Monday evening and was immediately arrested.

DCP West Sanjiv Tyagi has announced a cash reward for the two cops, who scripted a drama to arrest the criminal who had been absconding since the past one year.

The police later arrested two of his aides from Kalyanpur area and recovered several stolen two-wheelers from their possession.

When some sources told police that the family members of the accused were looking for a girl for marriage, Inspector Kakadeo police station, Kunj Bihari Mishra, said that the police learnt that Beenu Thakur's family was wanting to get him married.

"We hatched this unusual plot and sent two policemen -- constable Dharmendra Tiwari and Amit -- posing as brothers and an elderly man posing as father of a girl to the house of the accused with a marriage proposal. On seeing the photo, the family members agreed to call Dharmendra from Delhi.

"As soon as Dharmendra arrived from Delhi, alert cops arrested and later sent him to jail," said the inspector said.