A special squad on Wednesday arrested a person who was allegedly involved in 20-odd cases of cheating banks and lending institutions by pledging specially made gold-plated fake ornaments.

The arrested is Bobby Philip, 32, of Vakathanam in Idukki district. He has cases in police stations across Ernakulam, Idukki, Kottayam and Alappuzha districts dating back to 2016, and he primarily targeted private lending institutions.

Bobby had allegedly attempted to pull off his tried and tested modus operandi at the Kuruppumpady branch of Federal Bank in June. He had presented a gold bracelet weighing 30 grams for pledging. Though the fake ornament reportedly passed the muster, his ploy went off the track when the bank authorities asked him to produce an identity card and gave him a form to fill in before giving the money.

“He, however, left the bank unnoticed, though he had filled the form by then. The bank authorities grew suspicious and lodged a petition with the Kuruppumpady police,” said police sources.

The matter came to the notice of the District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural), who promptly constituted a special squad to crack the case. The squad, which obtained Bobby’s mobile number and other details from the form, eventually tracked him down to a lodge at Choondy near Aluva with the help of his mobile phone tower location.

The exact worth of his entire cheating cases remains to be estimated, even as the police suspect him to be the lynchpin of a gang operating on similar lines.

K.R. Manoj, Kuruppumpady Inspector and a member of the special squad, said a rough estimate of Bobby’s cheating cases put its worth in lakhs.

“He used to add a bit of gold in the ornaments he tried to pledge so that they were not easily detected,” the Inspector said.

The special squad led by Perumbavoor Deputy Superintendent of Police Bijumon also comprised Kuruppumpady Sub Inspector Satheesh.