Kerala: Conman Monson Mavunkal to remain in judicial custody till 9 Oct

Cherthala native Mavunkal, who claims to be in possession of rare and historic antiques, was arrested early this week by the Crime Branch wing of the Kerala police, which has been probing complaints against the dealer of having swindled ₹10 crore from several people.

The court had on Tuesday dismissed his bail plea and sent him to judicial custody for three days.

Mavunkal is a patron of the Pravasi Malayali Federation and chairman of the Kosmos Group and the Kalinga Kalyan Foundation. He was running an archaeological centre in Kochi.

Inspection by archeology department

Meanwhile, the Kerala state Department of Archaeology and the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) on Saturday completed the inspection of articles and luxury cars found at Mavunkal’s house. 

According to a police official, the Archeology department and the MVD have completed their inspections at the house of Mavunkal and they will submit the report to the investigation agency. 

The crime branch inquiry has revealed that most of the “antique” items as claimed by Mavunkal were made by local artisans and the Archeology department was roped in to examine the artifacts.

The MVD inspected the documents of nearly a dozen foreign vehicles found at the residence of the accused in the antique fraud case.

Investigation report by police 

According to the investigation team’s report filed in the court, “the fraud was operated by forging a document in the name of a foreign bank. There was no account abroad in his name. He deceived the complainants by convincing them that ₹2,62,000 crores were credited to his bank account by selling antiquities and he needs ₹10 crores to withdraw it.”

Mavunkal assured them that if they give money, he will give interest-free loans to them for starting a business.

The accused claimed that his precious antique collection includes the throne of Tipu Sultan. The first edition of the Holy Bible, the books used by Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji, the last powerful Mughal emperor Aurangazeb and Mysore Sultan Tipu Sultan, several holy books and documents such as a version of the great epic Mahabharata written in palm leaves, and the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma and Pablo Picasso are some of the items claimed to be in his possession.

He had allegedly sold the antiquities claiming that it was not the original but a copy of it. Investigations by the police revealed that these were made by a carpenter based in Cherthala at Alappuzha district.