Days after the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau registered a case against Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan, on Monday it was the turn of the Crime Branch police to register a case against state Congress president K. Sudhakaran in a cheating case.
The complaint against Sudhakaran was that a person called Anoop had given Rs 25 lakhs to the now jailed fake antique dealer, Monson Mavunkal at his Kochi office in 2018.
When the money was being handed over, Sudhakaran was also present and Rs 10 lakhs was taken by him after promising to get a favour done for him.
The Crime Branch has named Sudhakaran as the second accused and have asked him to appear before the probe team on Wednesday.
It was in September 2021 that Mavunkal hogged the headlines after a person who was allegedly cheated to the tune of Rs 10 crore by Mavunkal, approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan which eventually led to Mavunkal’s arrest.
Mavunkal used to bring several VIPs to his palatial residence, a part of which was converted into a museum to house his ‘precious’ antiques, which he claimed included the “staff of Moses” and “two of the 30 silver coins that were taken by Judas to cheat Jesus Christ”.
The police said that he also displayed a throne said to be used by Tipu Sultan, as well as a huge collection of old Qurans, Bibles (Old Testament and New Testament), and old handwritten copies of the Bhagavad Gita.
When the case first surfaced, pictures of the now retired state police chief Loknath Behra and serving additional director general of police Manoj Abraham visiting the “museum” of Mavunkal at Kochi went viral.
As the matter went before the court, it asked how these top police officials never thought of how a museum like this can function as the rules are very clear. It also sought to know why the police set up a daily beat box at his house and the museum.
Sudhakaran had then admitted that he had visited Mavunkal to get advice on a health issue that he was facing.
Mavunkal, since his arrest, continues to be in judicial custody.
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