ROURKELA: It took more than six months for 27-year-old Minati Khatua here in Rourkela to realise that she had married a woman and not a man.

But when she realised, her 'husband' had by then vanished with a car and a jeep bought with loans taken from a bank in her name.

Minati today lodged a complaint with the local police which registered it as a case of cheating and was probing the matter.

The police said that Minati married Sitakant Routray, a frequent visitor to her sister's house at Golghar here where she was staying, in a temple and the next day their marriage was registered before a notary.

Though the two stayed together, there was no physical relation between them as the fraudster convinced her that he was observing a special 'brata' for six months after which a puja would be performed at Jagannath temple in Puri.

After two months, the couple visited Minati's native village in Cuttack district where her relatives grew suspicious of him and told her about this. Minati subsequently found out that Sitakant was a woman posing as a man