Coimbatore: A 42-year-old man was arrested on Saturday, for cheating an onion vendor of ₹2.5 lakh after falsely promising to arrange a Tamil Nadu Housing Board flat for her.Vadavalli police identified the arrested individual as R Saravanan, 42, of Sukkuvarpettai near Gandhi Park in the city. Police said he was acquainted with M Padmapriya, 48, of Kalveerampalayam in the city, who runs an onion vending business at PN Pudur.Exploiting this connection, Saravanan claimed to possess contacts within the Tamil Nadu housing board and assured her that he could secure a flat on her behalf. Trusting him, Padmapriya paid him a total of ₹2.5 lakh in cash over several instalments between January and October 2025.“However, Saravanan failed to arrange the promised accommodation. When he later claimed that a house had been arranged, he neither provided access to the property nor returned the collected cash, and instead threatened her,” said an officer.The woman finally lodged a complaint on Saturday, following which he was booked under several sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and remanded in judicial custody.
