Bengaluru: A 31-year-old man who was arrested for rape in 2014 was once again caught by the Bengaluru police on Tuesday over charges of raping two women last week.

Shivarama Reddy, who was released from jail in 2015, targets single women living in the city and assaults them sexually and robs them before fleeing. His main target is to rob women in paying guest accommodations after raping them if they were alone, said police.

A 23-year-old woman living in a hostel complained to the police on March 2 that the culprit threatened her with knife and raped her. Three days later another woman in another hostel complained that a man sexually assaulted her and fled away with money and valuables. The police identified the miscreant as Shivarama Reddy, when the first woman described the man. Police showed his photo to the first victim which she identified as Reddy.

Shivarama Reddy was arrested in August 2014 for rape and sexual harassment. After release from jail, he again committed several crimes. When police tried to catch him on Tuesday, he attacked them with a knife injuring three policemen. Another policeman fired at him injuring him in the leg at Marathahalli Outer Ring Road.

Police said the accused originally hailed from Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. The man had been living in Bengaluru for the last 15 years and can speak four languages - Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English.

The man was accused in multiple rapes and had been walking in and out of jail and committing sexual assaults. The Bengaluru police have filed 16 cases against him.