Police in Coimbatore are on the lookout for a 20-year-old woman and her parents for allegedly swindling an engineer of over Rs 40 lakh, on the pretext of marrying him.

The victim identified as Santhosh Kumar (40), a software engineer, had registered himself on a matrimonial site, where the woman saw his profile and established contact with him.

She had asked him to meet her at a temple in Coimbatore to discuss their marriage, during which, she requested him to postpone the wedding for a few months, as her parents were unable to arrange sufficient money required for the wedding, police said.

The woman, Sruthi used to meet Santhosh at regular intervals and took money from him, which amounted to over Rs 40 lakh, they said.

When Santhosh asked the parents to expedite the marriage, they stalled it citing her health issues or unavailability.

Growing suspicious, he lodged a complaint with Crime Branch, who registered cases against the trio, under IPC sections 120 b (conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust and 420 (cheating).

Preliminary inquiry revealed that Sruthi had targeted and cheated several men, particularly those registered on matrimonial websites in Nagapattinam and Puducherry, police added.