Bhubaneswar, Dec. 25: Police today arrested a 32-year-old man on charges of impersonating an IAS probationer and cheating women after befriending them.

Shiba Ranjan Pattnaik alias Avinash, the father of a seven-year-old girl, has been accused of cheating a 25-year-old woman, among others.

The police said the accused used to befriend women on social networking sites posing as an IAS officer and later used to trap them with the promise of marriage.

"Avinash had trapped the complainant six months ago and promised to marry her. He had even met the woman's parents," said a police officer.

The woman alleged that in the past six months, Avinash had extracted more than Rs 10 lakh from her family, saying that he needed money for the treatment of his ailing parents.

"He had withdrawn cash several times using my ATM card. I have also transferred my car in his name as he had promised to marry me," said the complainant.

The police have also seized the car from the accused.

Avinash ran out of luck two days ago when his wife spotted him with the complainant at Khandagiri Square. When his wife introduced herself to the woman, she was shocked.

"Later, another girl also approached us alleging that she was also duped by the accused in a similar manner. The accused had told the victim that he was a software professional in a multinational company," said a police officer.

Avinash, who is a native of Ganjam district, used to target girls from wealthy families.

"We suspect that he was involved in more such crimes," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.

Avinash, however, denied the allegations.

"I have never taken any money from the complainant. I had actually paid her money for selling her car to me. I have been falsely implicated," he said.

The police have slapped charges on him under sections 420 (cheating), 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354 (outraging modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.