Daijiworld Media Network - Kochi (RJP)

Kochi, Mar 23: A self-proclaimed godman, who duped and sexually abused several girls after offering them high-profile jobs, was arrested by Thrikkakara police near here on Tuesday March 21.

Unnikrishnan alias Kannan (30) from Engandiyur in Thrissur district is the person arrested. He was operating from a rented apartment in Brahmapuram in Kochi.

Unnikrishnan was booked following an investigation into a complaint pertaining to the disappearance of three women IT employees. When the police visited his flat for investigations, a number of girls were found in his room. They seized a pistol, a double-edged knife, a nanjak, laptops, mobile phones, and puja articles from the accused.

Unnikrishnan had lied to the apartment owner that he possessed a degree in neurosurgery from a foreign university when he approached him to take the flat on rent. In fact he had only studied up to PU.

The accused conducted job interviews and recruited several highly-qualified women to various posts on the pretext of opening an IT firm near the Cochin Special Economic Zone soon. The victims were provided accommodation in the flat and Unnikrishnan regularly visited them. He also tried to impress them by claiming that he possessed special powers. One of the girls was even lured to marry a friend of the accused.
The girl’s family members were invited recently to the apartment to attend ‘special pujas’ performed by Unnikrishnan.

The girls revealed to the police that the accused also duped them of cash and gold ornaments worth lacs. He has been booked on charges of raping another girl in the toilet of the same flat.

Unnikrishnan, whose wife is in Engandiyur, illegally married another woman in Kochi some years ago and was staying with her in a house adjacent to the flat. Police also said that cheating cases have been registered against him in the past in Peramangalam and Vadanappally police stations.