Man arrested for duping city caterers 

Mangaluru: A 45-year-old man accused of duping several city-based caterers, while posing as a prospective customer was arrested by the Mangaluru City police on Friday.

The arrested, identified as Rajesh Rao. 

As per the police, Rao would introduce himself as a businessman during his visit to the caterers for placing a catering order. He would leave after finalising the order only to return in a while and request the caterer to lend him some money by claiming to have misplaced his ATM card and returning the money while paying the order amount. His victims never doubted him as Rao appeared to come across as a genuine person from the way he dressed and conducted himself.

On Friday afternoon Rao had visited a caterer at Haleynagadi and started a discussion about placing an order. To his bad luck, the catering company owner knew about Rao’s modus operandi, thanks to the messages sent by conned caterers on Whatsapp groups. He hence kept Rao engaged in a conversation while alerting the caterers. A cornered Rao was later handed over to the police.

A case has been registered at the Mulki police station.