more-in The Kochi City police on Tuesday arrested a 38-year-old man who had allegedly cheated several widows after offering to marry them. The arrested was identified as Biju Antony, a native of Payyannur currently residing in Mananthavadi. He landed in the custody of the Ernakulam North police in connection with a case of cheating a woman from Malappuram. As per the case, he established a relationship with the complainant a month ago and began staying with her at a rented house near Vaduthala. He then decamped with her gold ornaments and cash about a week later. According to the police, his modus operandi was to marry young widows by advertising himself as a prospective groom in matrimonial classifieds. “He would spend a few weeks with the victim and leave them behind after obtaining their gold and cash,” said an officer. Upon establishing a relationship with a woman, he would take a mobile phone connection in her name and use the number to entrap the next woman. “For instance, he had already swindled ?45,000 from a physically disabled woman from Kottayam and established links with another woman in Vaikom even while staying with a woman at Vaduthala. Each of the women identified him in different names,” the official added. The accused, who had been hiding out at Gundalpettu in Karnataka and later in Wayanad, was traced with the help of the Kalpetta police. Interestingly, he had published a matrimonial advertisement in vernacular newspapers a day before being arrested and was receiving several inquiries over the phone even while in custody. According to the police, several cases of marriage fraud have been pending against him since 2008. The accused was produced before a magistrate and remanded in custody. The police will soon seek his custody for a detailed investigation.

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