Personnel of the Cyber Cell of Central Crime Branch of the Chennai Suburban Police on Sunday arrested a 30-year-old man on charges of cheating several women of their cash on the pretext of marrying them.
Speaking to the media, Chennai Suburban Police Commissioner S.R. Jangid said a woman lecturer complained to the police in January that she was cheated by a man, who introduced himself as Ashok.
Ashok had approached the 38-year-old woman after she had placed an advertisement in a Tamil matrimonial magazine. Responding to the advertisement, Ashok had told her that he was a jeweller and soon decided to get married.
One day, he asked for cash to meet the medical expenses of a friend who had been hospitalised after an accident. The unsuspecting woman gave him her ATM card and also the PIN. He withdrew money on two occasions and only after she realised that she had been cheated, she gave a police complaint.
Veeraperumal, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Cyber Cell, said they gave a missed call to Ashok from the mobile number of Mangala Lakshmi, woman Sub-Inspector of Cyber Cell as part of a plan to apprehend him. A couple of days later Ashok returned the call and was in touch with the SI, who had told him that she was not yet married. They were in touch for two months, but Ashok evaded attempts to meet her.
On Sunday, the woman SI told Ashok that she wanted to meet him, to give cash for buying gold jewellery for which he had asked her to come to Chengalpattu. Dressed in plain clothes, she was waiting at a bus stop when he picked her up in a car, allegedly stolen from his friend, when the rest of the waiting policemen intercepted and arrested him. Investigations revealed that he was M. Ravichandran, a native of Sundakkamuthur in Coimbatore district.
From his cell phone contact numbers, the police spoke to a number of women and found that Ravichandran had cheated 17 women, all in the same fashion. He had cheated Rs.7 lakh from four women over the past few months.
Mr. Veeraperumal said Ravichandran would target unmarried woman and cheat them of money once he earned their trust and confidence.
