Bhubaneswar, Apr 5 (IANS): The second wife of a fake doctor was arrested by the Odisha police for helping the him in cheating his other wives, an official said here on Tuesday.

The fake doctor, Ramesh Chandra Swain, had married at least 18 women from different states and duped them with lakhs of rupees. He was arrested by Odisha police on February 14.

Swain, a matric fail, use to introduce himself as a doctor, a senior officer of Health Ministry and the Medical Council of India.

He had married to at least 18 middle-aged single women including lawyers, Delhi school teacher, police officer and doctor, and acquired their money before abandoning them. Swain married the women through various matrimonial sites.

During the investigation, the police found that the second wife had helped him in cheating other women, said Bhubaneswar DCP, Umashankar Dash.

"Initially, we requested her to help the police in the investigation. However, she had not cooperated with the police and later remained at large. Our team first raided places like Prayagraj and Varanasi to catch her. However, she had already left the places," Dash said.

Following further investigation, the police were able to arrest the second wife, a medical practitioner, from Ranchi on Monday. She has been brought to Bhubaneswar on transit remand for interrogation, the official added.

She helped the fake doctor in duping other women and was absconding since Swain's arrest, said the DCP.

The woman, identified as Kamala Tirky, was employed at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

Earlier, the police had arrested Swain's driver and another woman who claimed to be Swain's sister, on the charge of helping him to get married multiple times and duping the women of money.