Udupi: 'Ladies Vs Tricky Male' - Con Man who Married Eight Women for Money Caught

Pics: Hemanath Padubidri
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SM)

Udupi, Jun 9: Of all those true-life incidents that fashion after Bollywood flicks, the case of Rajesh Anchan alias Sukumar aka Harish Kinnigoli perhaps takes the cake.

The man, known by three or more different names, is said to have married eight women, started families with almost all of them, only to vanish with their gold and money!

He would have continued conning women, if not for an advertisement in a Kannada daily.

In what reminds one of the movie Ladies Vs Ricky Behl (though Ricky was at least decent),  Rajesh Achan's true colours were exposed when one of the many women he married and abandoned came across a 'missing' advertisement in the paper, with his photo! The photo was his, but not the name.

On May 17, the ad was placed by Mani Anandady Shubha, who is seven months pregnant now, stating that her husband 'Sukumar' had gone missing. She even lodged a complaint in the Vittal police station.

When Revati of Bingre, Udupi saw the ad, she was surprised to say the least, for it happened to be her own missing husband 'Rajesh Anchan'

Revati then contacted Jaya Karnataka social service group, who immediately swung into action. The group conducted a widespread search for the man, spanning the length and breath of the region. Finally, on Friday June 8 night, he was found in Madikeri.

The Jaya Karnataka members informed Madikeri police and handed him over to Malpe police, where he will be produced before the court on Saturday Jun 9.

The women he married are Meenakshi of Deralakatte, Jayanti of Uppinangady, Prema of Punchalakadu, Revati of Bingre, Udupi, Revati of Malpe Kanyadi, Sunanda of Madikeri, Shubha of Mani and Shambhavi of Kasargod.

All the women except Jayanti have children, while Shubha is pregnant. He would tell each woman a sob story of having lost his parents, and claim to have different jobs with different women. He is basically a cook. Once he won his new wife's confidence, he would vanish with her gold, money and other valuables, leaving her with children. Shubha was the last woman he married.

Addressing a press meet here on Saturday, Shubha, Revati and Prema demanded that he should be given maximum punishment so that he never ruins another life again. If he is let off, he would continue cheating other women, they said.

Jaya Karnataka district president Diwakar Shetty said that apart from these women, there may be many more who he may have cheated. He urged the government to provide financial assistance to the ladies and assured that Jaya Karnataka too would help them.

Udupi district secretary of Jaya Karnataka Nagaraj Ghani was present.