Chennai: The Chennai police have arrested a suspected 35-year-old serial rapist, believed to have targeted only middle-aged women. S. Suresh Kumar, a cab driver, was tracked down after a 49-year-old woman registered a complaint with the police alleging that she was assaulted inside a car at Injambakkam on Saturday afternoon. Suresh was traced within hours as the woman, a domestic help, had managed to note down the car’s registration number. She was lured into the car after Suresh said his employer was distributing free sarees nearby.
The police said Suresh was a serial offender and that he had confessed to raping at least four other women in the Thoraipakkam and Tiruvanmiyur areas. Saturday's assault took place around 2 pm when the victim, walking on the road in a residential colony, was lured into the car by Suresh, who had managed to strike a conversation with her. "He then drove to the East Coast Road and parked the car at a deserted spot in Palavakkam and started threatening her," said Neelankarai police officials.
After the attack, Suresh dumped the victim but she managed to note down his vehicle's registration number and lodged a complaint with the police. She claimed Suresh threatened to stab her if she raised an alarm. The police traced the car, which belonged to a travel agency, and finally zeroed in on Suresh, a resident of Thoraipakkam’s Kannagi Nagar.
Police sources said Suresh has confessed to other attacks. "He targeted middle-aged women from economically-weak backgrounds. He would lure them under false pretext and then drop them off somewhere after sexually assaulting them. The previous victims had not registered complaints. Also, he usually fled to Kerala after every crime. Even his wife told the police that he was a pervert and that he had an obsession with middle-aged women," the officials said.
