9 women lose Rs 9 cr in marriage bait

The man was identified as Vidyuth Chakravarthi (35) from Tiruvannamalai, who was earlier arrested by Tiruchy police on similar charges.

Chennai police arrested him based on a complaint from a woman, medical officer at a private hospital, that he cheated Rs 6.9 crore from her. The suspect, an engineering degree holder, claimed that he was a doctor in Washington and contacted her through a matrimonial site in 2016. He contacted her saying that he was in India and met her in a hotel in Chromepet. He said he wanted to marry her but asked her to wait for a year because of his mother’s death.

He later managed to extract Rs 6.9 crore from her and family saying that he wanted to fund a real estate project in Tiruvannamalai. He vanished after collecting the money, police said.

Police said he had been targeting women aged above 30 and widows who are well-settled, cheating them with the promise of marriage. He had been using various names and posing himself as doctor and engineer. Police say he has so far cheated nine women similarly.

He had purchased properties using the money and had been leading a lavish lifestyle. Police are now planning to get his properties attached and sell them to pay the money back to the victims.