India, Sept. 25 -- In some ways, it was a standard farmhouse wedding: lunch for 500 guests at noon; then the usual wedding rituals.

And in some ways, it was far from standard: the groom went back to prison at 8 pm Thursday, after the 12-hour parole granted to him for the wedding ended.

Then, the story of life convict and gangster Mainpal Dhilla alias Mainpal Badli, is far from usual.

For instance, the bride is Cambodian, Meta ChanMia; the two are believed to have met in 2018, when Dhilla fled to her country while out on parole. They have been in a relationship since, have three children, and lived together in Siem Reap till 2025, when Dhilla was finally re-arrested (by Cambodian authorities) and brought back to India.

Understandably, ...