Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 25 (IANS): A 63-year-old man from Tamil Nadu was arrested in Kerala's Kollam on a complaint by a Thiruvananthapuram five-star hotel that he had cheated them by leaving without paying his room and food bill, and also stole a laptop.

Vincent John, hailing from Tamil Nadu's Tirunelveli, had taken a room in the five-star hotel, without paying any advance. Speaking excellent English, he struck up a cordial relationship with the hotel management. Staying in a suite for a couple of days, he took the best and the best liquor, and later requested the hotel that he had to attend a function and that he needs a laptop.

John then slipped away from the hotel and it was only after a few hours, that the hotel staff could understand that he had duped them and lodged a complaint with the police. Police, while searching his mobile phone signals, found that John was at Kollam railway station and communicated to the Kollam police who apprehended him.

Police said that in 2019, he had cheated another five-star hotel in Kollam and decamped with valuables.

According to the information available, John faced more than 200 cases of cheating in five-star hotels across the country, and most cases were in Mumbai.

Being taken to Thiruvananthapuram police station, John, interacting with media persons, said: "Five-star hotels are the places where maximum nefarious operations including betting syndicates are functioning and I wanted to teach them a lesson."