New Delhi, Dec 24(PTI): A 32-year-old man was arrested for allegedly posing as a media professional and cheating women on social media and matrimonial websites, police said on Sunday. The accused, who was identified Abhishek Vashist, was arrested on Saturday near Prem Ashram Chowk in Haridwar, police said.

Investigations revealed that the accused used to cheat people by making fraudulent IDs on various matrimonial sites with different names, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P S Kushwah said.

According to the officer, the accused had lured 21 women through different matrimonial sites. He would pose as an affluent businessman and the owner of a company named ‘Akshaya Deep Media House', to woo women from well-to-do families.

A case was filed at the Barakhamba Road police station against Vashist by a Delhi-based family for cheating them. According to the police report, the accused came in contact with a woman from the family to whom he introduced himself as a media professional. He told the family that his parents were no more and he had no relatives. Believing his story, the woman married Vashist in March.

The accused stayed with her for two weeks and later absconded with all the jewelry and cash, which the couple had received as gifts, Kushwah said. A city court had issued a non-bailable warrant against him in the case

According to police, the accused also claimed to have worked as a reporter in various reputed news channels. In 2012, he posed as an astrologer (Acharya Atul Ji Maharaj) and appeared on Sadhana Media Channel. After the channel got to know about his activities, they discontinued his programmes. Later, the channel issued an advisory against him.

In 2016, he was arrested in another case at a police station in Chandigarh when he tried to cheat a businessman in a bogus land deal.

Following this, Vashist started cheating people by creating fake profiles on several matrimonial sites and presented himself as a wealthy unmarried person, owning a BMW car, a house in Gurgaon with an annual income of Rs 20-25 lakhs.

The accused shifted his base from Delhi-NCR to Haridwar, after the complaint was against him by the family, where he presented himself as an owner of a news channel. Police said further investigation into the matter is underway.