Days after the Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau registered a case against Leader of Opposition in Kerala VD Satheesan, the Crime Branch police on Monday, June 12, registered a case against state Congress president K Sudhakaran in a cheating case. The complaint against Sudhakaran was that a person named Anoop had given Rs 25 lakhs to the now-jailed fake antique dealer, Monson Mavunkal, at his Kochi office in 2018. Sudhakaran was allegedly present when the money was being handed over, and he allegedly took Rs 10 lakhs himself from Anoop after promising to get a favour done for him. The Crime Branch has named Sudhakaran as the second accused in the case and has asked him to appear before the probe team on Wednesday.
It was in September 2021 that Mavunkal hogged the headlines after a person whom he had allegedly cheated to the tune of Rs 10 crore approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, eventually leading to Mavunkal's arrest. Mavunkal allegedly 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 which he claimed was once 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 could be allowed to function. It also sought to know why the police set up a daily ‘beat box’ point at his house and the museum, a spot which police personnel are expected to visit regularly to assess the security situation and record it in a register.
Other pictures that surfaced at the time of Mavunkal’s arrest included ones in which he was seen posing with actor Mohanlal, Congress President K Sudhakaran, and several others. At the time, Sudhakaran had admitted that he had visited Mavunkal to get advice on a health issue that he was facing. Since his arrest, Mavunkal continues to be in judicial custody.