Chennai

The accused, Balamanikandan alias Surya (28) of Veppampattu, has been arrested twice before. Earlier, he used to woo women online by posing as an IPS officer. He was arrested in 2013 while he was roaming in north Chennai wearing a police uniform on his Royal Enfield bike. 

In 2013, his intention was just to impress women in his locality. He was arrested for cheating nine women, including three doctors and two engineers. This time, he shifted base to southern part of the city and used a white colour car, adding more authenticity to his look. He also rented a flat in a posh building in Indira Nagar and appointed four men as his ‘subordinates’. 

As he is married now, his plan was to extort businessmen for which he quit his techie job three months ago, sources said. Police began monitoring his activities after two residents of his apartment complex lodged complaint at Kanathur police station following suspicion. 

During investigation, police found out that he was a repeat offender and arrested him and his aides– Pradeep Kumar (24), S Narayanan (24), G Rajkamal (22) and G Bharath Ganesh (23) of Salem. Police said that all four of them were colleagues of Balamanikandan in an IT company. 

Police have seized three cars and police uniforms from the arrested persons. After he was detained under the Goondas Act, he took a break from being a fake police officer and instead worked at an IT firm before starting it all over again. A senior officer told DT Next that City Police would ensure that Balamanikandan was convicted this time. 

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