Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Jun 20 (IANS): A self-proclaimed occultist, who was preparing for his sixth marriage, has been arrested by the police.

The arrest was made following a complaint lodged by his fifth wife at Kidwai Nagar police.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Raveena Tyagi, the man has been identified as Anuj Chetan Katheria, a native of Shahjahanpur.

A case has been registered against the man under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC.

As per the complaint, Anuj, a self-proclaimed 'tantrik', had first married a woman from Mainpuri district in 2005.

Later, he married a woman hailing from Bareilly in 2010, and in 2014 he tied the knot with a woman belonging to Aurraiya.

Thereafter, he married the cousin of his third wife, who later committed suicide after learning of his misdemeanour.

In 2016, he was booked for raping the wife of his younger brother at their native place in Shahjahanpur.

In 2019, Anuj again married a Kanpur woman, who was his fifth wife.

She alleged in her complaint that she had married Anuj in 2019. After marriage, he started harassing her over some pretext or other. Later, he forcibly had unnatural sex with her besides indulging in other unnatural acts.

When she resisted, he assaulted her and even tried to kill her, the woman further alleged.

Later, she filed a case under relevant sections of the IPC, including section 377 (unnatural offences), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 307 (attempt to murder) against Anuj.

The DCP (South) said that during the course of the investigation, several other facts came to light.

The accused kept changing his locations to evade arrest. He was finally tracked to Kidwai Nagar on Friday night. Subsequently, a trap was laid and the fraudster was arrested with the help of inputs.

Anuj, who is a Class 8 drop out, claims to have passed B.Sc.

The DCP further said, "He has married five women since 2005. The cases with regard to the Mainpuri and Bareilly women are sub-judice in courts." He had deserted the Aurraiya woman and later had married her cousin, but soon she ended her life.

He used to trap victims through matrimonial sites, the police official said.

"At present, he was in touch with nearly 32 women, and was planning to tie the knot for the sixth time. He had created a fake profile ID with the name Lucky Pandey. He used to pretend to be a teacher, and at times, even hotelier," the official further said.