Man cheats several women on pretext of marriage, arrested

The accused person has been identified as Chakravarthy of Thiruvanamalai district and is not a doctor.

TIRUCHY: Following a PIL filed at the Madurai bench of Madras High Court on improper monitoring of private matrimonial websites and against a person who cheated several women with the assurance of marriage through such websites, the district police arrested the accused person. 

He had been hiding out in Thiruvanamalai district and was later remanded. The accused was booked under multiple sections of the IPC for cheating and raping several women with the assurance of marriage.

According to the PIL filed by the Parents Trust, Tiruchy NGO on behalf of a victim, she is a medical practitioner in a government hospital. The widow lives with her five-year-old daughter. Considering her daughter’s future, she registered with a private matrimonial website in June 2018 as she wished to remarry. 

Seeing the post on the website, a person introducing himself as Ajay from Thiruvanamalai posed as a general surgeon from the US and contacted the woman through the website. It is alleged that as their relationship blossomed, the accused took a total of Rs 18.70 lakh over multiple occasions and also raped the woman with the assurance of marrying her. Despite the woman asking him to return the money, the accused did not comply. When she became more insistent as she wanted her money back, the accused threatened her with dire consequences.  

In February this year, the victim came to know that Ajay’s photos under different names like Vijaya Kumar and Vidhu were posted on the same matrimonial website. The accused person had been targeting widows and divorced women through the website.

Despite several complaints being registered, police took no action, citing jurisdictional issues. Parents Trust then stepped in and filed the PIL on April 22 on behalf of the victim and two other women. After a hearing, Justices Nisha Banu and Dhandapani ordered the accused to be taken into custody. 

Based on the judgement, police arrested the accused from his hideout in Thiruvanamalai district on Thursday. The accused person has been identified as Chakravarthy of Thiruvanamalai district and is not a doctor.