A 39-year-old man was arrested on Monday for threatening hoteliers in the name of District Collector and asking them to deposit money in his account.

On information that CDs of new cinema and pornography were being sold in the bus stand here, police raided a roadside petty shop and seized 20 such CDs from Santhanabharathi, a native of Chennai.

Further interrogation revealed that he used to call big hotels impersonating as District Collector or his personal assistant and ask them to deposit money in his account, as the administration wanted to host some function there.

Some hoteliers were cheated by the accused, police said.

A local hotelier lodged a complaint with police, as he became suspicious as the caller referred the name of male Collector, where as the present collector is a female.

Detailed inquiry revealed that Santhanabharathi had cheated many persons in Salem, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai and Erode and based on which cases were registered against him and remanded to custody.