CHENNAI: The city police on Saturday claimed to have arrested a serial rapist who targeted women he found alone at the homes he burgled in the suburbs.Madhan Arivalagan , 28, a native of Krishnagiri used to work in a software company in Bengaluru before he turned to crime.Investigators, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Arivalagan had even filmed his sexual assaults and had repeatedly raped several women in the Guindy and Velachery areas by blackmailing them with the clips he had stored on his mobile phone.In December 2017, a city court had sentenced him to three years in jail for a burglary case registered by the Velachery police but he appealed against the verdict and was released after serving 78 days in prison.The Ambattur police led by inspector Vijaya Ragavan had been on the lookout for Arivalagan for a while now as they had found his fingerprints at the site in more than 15 burglary cases reported in Padi, Korattur, Ambattur and Avadi areas. The Velachery police had lifted his fingerprints when he was arrested.Police said intensified their search after they found a bike abandoned by the road — it bore the number recorded in CCTV camera footage near the crime scenes in the western suburbs. A senior police officer said, “We examined the bike and found at least 25 sovereigns of gold jewellery hidden in it. We maintained surveillance at the place suspecting Arivalagan would come there to collect his bike.”At 1.15pm on Saturday, Arivalagan sporting a bandage on his right hand arrived at the spot and was nabbed by the police. Police said he told them he had abandoned his bike near Pattaravakkam and fled after spotting a police patrol.While fleeing, he scaled a wall and fell, fracturing his right hand. Passers-by, thinking he had been in an accident, took him to the Government Stanley Hospital. There he claimed he broke his hand in a fall in his bathroom and left after treatment to retrieve the stolen booty he had hidden in the bike.The Ambattur Industrial Estate police registered a case and arrested Arivalagan. He was remanded in judicial custody.

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