COIMBATORE: Two persons, including a woman, were arrested by police in the Nilgiris on Tuesday for conning a retired tahsildar of Rs 16 lakh by promising a government job in railways for his son.

The accused Somu (46), from Kariamalai near Manjoor and his accomplice Kumari Latha (51) from Coimbatore, had approached Chikkanuman, a retired tahsildar from Gudalur and promised to get his son a job in the railways.

The duo claimed that they had links with officials in the railways and took Rs 16 lakh from him. However, they did not get the job and also failed to return the money.

Based on a complaint the police arrested the duo and produced them in a court to be lodged in prison. Police said a search is on for one more person identified as Sivaraman.

Police suspect Somu of having cheated many people by following the same modus operandi and had appealed to people to come forward to register their complaints.