K.K. Gupta, Raipur jail superintendent, said that some Arya Samaj members worked with jail authorities to arrange the marriage in the presence of prosecution and defence layers.

He added that the bride's parents presented a set of kitchen utensils as a 'marriage gift', bought with money from the jail welfare fund.

Gupta claimed the couple had been in love and it was the girl's parents who had levelled the rape charge. Police arrested Sheshmal in June 2008 and kept him at a sub-jail for a brief period and then shifted him to Raipur Central jail.