Serial groom of crime: Notorious ‘Kalyanaraman’ caught after series of matrimonial deception and thefts

ATTINGAL: The Attingal police have finally apprehended a notorious criminal whose predatory lifestyle spanned the entire state of Kerala. Babu Bahuleyan, better known by his alias "Kalyanaraman," was captured following a tip-off while hiding in a lodge near the Attingal KSRTC bus stand.

While he faces over 50 charges of extortion and theft stretching from Neyyattinkara to Kasaragod, his criminal method was uniquely manipulative. The Veeranikkavu native built a twisted pattern of "serial matrimony" to facilitate his crimes. He specifically targeted widows and women experiencing marital discord, seducing them into marriage to gain their trust and access to new communities.

Once established in a new household under the guise of being a working husband, he would scout the neighbourhood for empty homes to burglarise. These marriages served as the perfect cover, allowing him to vanish as soon as he had drained his victims of their valuables, only to move on to the next town to repeat the cycle.

His latest arrest stems from the brazen theft of a seven-sovereign gold necklace from an elderly woman in Thiruvananthapuram. Though four of his relatives had already been caught for their roles in that specific heist, Kalyanaraman had remained a fugitive until now. Following his arrest in Attingal, police have handed him over to the Fort station to face the long list of charges awaiting him.