Lucknow, Nov 30 (IANS) Ajeet Maurya, a social media influencer with two wives, nine children and six girlfriends, was arrested in Lucknow for running fake ponzi- like schemes, circulating fake Indian currency notes, duping people with insurance schemes and several other cases.

Maurya (41) was arrested by the Sarojini Nagar police on Wednesday while he was dining with his wife at a hotel and planning for a flight to an overseas trip for the New Year celebrations.

A class 6 dropout, Maurya told the police that he took to crime as he had to feed two wives, nine children and six girlfriends.

He makes reels on social media sites.

Police got on the conman after an FIR was filed by Dharmendra Kumar, in which he alleged that he was duped of Rs 3 lakhs in the name of doubling the amount by a group of people.

SHO Sarojininagar, Shailendra Giri said that it all started after Maurya, who used to make false Plaster of Paris ceilings in Mumbai, stopped getting work.

“In Mumbai he had married Sangeeta, 40, in 2000 and had seven children with her. He lost his job by 2010 and returned to his village in Gonda, but found no lucrative job,” said the police.

Thereafter, he took to crime and his first case of theft and trespassing was registered in Gonda in 2016.

Since then, Mauryat has not looked back.

“Two years later he came in touch with one Sushila ,30, and took to new means of fraud. He started circulation of fake currency notes and floating ponzi like schemes,” a senior crime branch personnel added.

The two soon connived with some others and floated an outfit. In 2019, Ajeet married Sushila.

They started living a life of luxury.

Sushila gave birth to two children, the police said.

During the probe, cops also found that Maurya had built two houses, one in which Sangeeta lives and another for Sushila and her children, while he himself lives in a rented accommodation.

Interestingly, he provides his wives with a lavish life and the ‘booty’ is equally distributed between them.

Cops scanned his call detail records and found that Ajeet had six girlfriends and used to take them on long trips too.

Ajeet’s carefully curated social media presence played a pivotal role in attracting women into his orbit.