New Delhi  - An Indian man accused of luring 18 women with promises of marriage and killing them has been arrested by police in the southern state of Karnataka, news reports said Thursday.

Mohan Kumar, 45, confessed that he promised to marry 18 women without demanding a dowry, had sex with them and gave them cyanide pills, telling the women they were morning-after contraceptives, the Times of India newspaper reported, citing the police.

"He confessed to killing the young women, and we have verified his confessions," deputy inspector general of police Gopal Hosur was quoted as saying. "Dead bodies of the victims have been found in different places like Mysore, Bangalore and Mercara."

Confessions in police custody are not admissible in Indian courts unless supported by evidence.

Kumar, a physical education instructor, would allegedly court each potential victim for about two months before spending a night with her at a rented room in a lodge, Hosur said.

He would tell the woman to hand over her jewellery for safekeeping and take her to a bus station where he would give her a cyanide pill, saying it was a contraceptive, Hosur added.

"The unsuspecting victim would consume the tablet and within minutes drop dead," he said. "The man would then soon move away from there, take the gold from the lodge and disappear."

Local police investigating the cases, which were spread over five years, most often wrote them off as suicides.

The police received clues leading to Kumar while investigating the death of a 22-year-old identified only as Anitha who went missing on June 17.

When the police tracked Anitha's mobile, they found several calls to the phone from the mobile of another girl who was also missing.

The trail finally led to Kumar, who was arrested. The accused has two wives, each with two children, living in separate towns in Karnataka, police said. (dpa)