From reel to real: Delhi casanova cons 15 women of Rs 50 lakh in 1 year; held

New Delhi: Inspired by Ranveer Singh-starrer 'Ladies vs Ricky Behl', a 34-year-old man duped several women over the last six years on the pretext of marrying them and would later blackmail them with intimate videos.

Yogesh alias Sameer Garg conned close to 15 women of more than Rs 50 lakh in the year 2016, police said. He was arrested on September 5 from the New Delhi railway station while trying to flee.

Police said he mostly targeted single women in their late 30s, who had registered themselves on matrimonial sites.

On September 5, a woman's brother approached police with a complaint that his sister, a divorcee, was missing along with her 12-year-old son for the last two days.

He told police that his sister had uploaded her profile on a matrimonial site and had come in contact with Garg through it.

Police started tracking the mobile numbers of the accused. Meanwhile, the woman's brother managed to get in touch with his sister.

He lied to her that their father is sick and admitted to AIIMS. She agreed to come to see him but told her brother that she is leaving for Mumbai, the police said.

Garg came to AIIMS along with the victim's sister but he sensed something amiss and escaped from there taking her along.

A police team started for the airport to nab the accused and rescued the woman and her son. However, the cell phone location of Garg's phone indicated that he was at the New Delhi railway station on September 5, the police said.

The team proceeded there and it was found that the Mumbai-bound train was slated to leave from a different platform. A trap was laid and the accused was arrested. The woman and her son were also rescued.

The victim said that the accused had lured her on the pretext of marriage and had taken her to Vaishno Devi. Later, he took her to Goa on the pretext of making her meet his parents, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara).

The woman, who works as a teacher, told police that he had been extracting money from her and had taken Rs three lakh from her.

He had made videos of her and had threatened to upload them on social media sites if she did not pay up, they added. Garg has also been charged with rape.

During interrogation, Garg told police that he was inspired by the Bollywood film 'Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl'.

He would project himself as the country head of a high- profile conglomerate firm and tell women that his father is a retired IAS officer, said the DCP.

He also told police that he had completed his graduation from SRCC and had pursued his MBA from one of the Indian Institutes of Management. He also claimed to have studied in a prestigious institution in the United Kingdom. However, these claims have been found to be false, the police said. He had been conning women since 2011.

So far, five women in their late 30s, have approached police. One of the victims is from Ahmedabad and another is from Noida.

They claimed that the accused also got intimate with them on the pretext of marriage and deserted them after taking money from them. They have claimed that they were conned of Rs eight lakh respectively, the police said.