Konni (Kerala): A 36-year-old man was arrested for cheating four women by marrying them. He convinced them by claiming to be an orphan and saying that marriage would help him overcome his loneliness. His lies were exposed when his second wife befriended his fourth wife on Facebook, leading to the revelation of his multiple marriages.  

Deepu Philip, a native of Vellarikund in Kasaragod and a resident of Pulimukku in Konni, was arrested by Konni Police for duping four women into marriage. He would introduce himself as an orphan and claim that marriage would help him overcome his loneliness. He exploited their sympathy to marry them, lived with them for a while, took advantage of them sexually and then moved on to his next target. 

Deepu's pattern of deception began a decade ago when he married a woman from Vellarikund in Kasaragod. The couple had two children, but he later left them after taking her gold ornaments and money. He then moved to Tamil Nadu with another woman from Kasaragod, lived there for some time, and eventually abandoned her as well. Later, he relocated to Ernakulam, where he got close to another woman. After spending some time there, he met a woman from Alappuzha through Facebook. She was divorced, and he later married her at Arthunkal.

The truth surfaced when Deepu’s second wife became a Facebook friend of his fourth wife, the Alappuzha native. She was stunned to see the Alappuzha native woman’s husband. Realising Deepu’s deception, the second wife alerted the fourth wife about him.

Meanwhile, the fourth wife had already grown suspicious as she noticed Deepu losing interest in their relationship after receiving ₹3.5 lakh in insurance money from a past car accident.

Following this revelation, the fourth wife approached the Konni police with a complaint. The investigation uncovered that Deepu took the women to various places, including Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, and sexually exploited them. Based on the complaint, a team led by Police Inspector P Sreejith arrested Deepu on Monday morning. He was later remanded.