E-Paper
Kerala antique collector conned many
Police said he promised a partnership for gullible investors in the upcoming archaeological museum in Kochi and collected money from many businessmen.
With the arrest of a self-proclaimed antique collector and blogger Monson Mavunkal in Kochi on Sunday, in connection with the alleged money swindling cases, many photos and videos have started appearing on social media showing how he flaunted his high connections to cheat people.
Senior politicians like state Congress president K Sudhakaran and deputy inspector general of police S Surendran figure in some of the photos and videos. HT could not verify the authenticity of these photos and videos but later Sudhakaran said he knew him well and went to him for skin treatment.
Mavunkal runs a big museum in the port city and many VIPs were frequent visitors there. Police said he promised a partnership for gullible investors in the upcoming archaeological museum in Kochi and collected money from many businessmen. There are also complaints that he gifted antiques to many VIPs and collected money from them later saying his payments were delayed due to some technical glitches abroad. But the police later found that he did not have any foreign bank account and his doctorate and medical degrees were also fictitious.
There were many attempts to hush up cases against him and some of them (six victims) later approached chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who later directed a special team to investigate complaints against him which later led to his arrest. He was reportedly close to many senior police officers also. He is in judicial custody now.
In his YouTube videos, Mavunkal claimed to have possessed many antique pieces like Mysore emperor Tipu Sultan’s throne, silver coins Judas received for betraying Jesus Christ, Soloman-era gold coins and rare books on Maratha warrior Shivaji and Mughal emperor Aurangazeb. He also claimed that he is a German-trained cosmetologist and treated many VIPs.
There are also reports that many cine personalities frequented him quite often. When questioned, police said, he claimed that he handed over these gifts as replicas, not as originals.
Later Sudhakaran and DIG S Surendran said they were not aware of his alleged activities. “I approached him in connection with a skin treatment. He was recommended by one of my old friends in Kochi. I was not aware of his past or his degree,” he said in Kannur (north Kerala).
He said many VIPs used to visit him and his name was singled out and deliberately dragged to defame him. He squarely blamed the CM’s office for this. A Bete Noire of the CM, he is known for running a feud with him. DIG S Surendran also said he was unaware of Mavunkal’s unlawful activities. But some of the purported videos show he was celebrating a birthday party along with his family members in his house.
“We have been complaining about him for quite some time. But he used his influence with the police to hush them up. Many VIPs were frequent visitors there. He claimed he’s a cosmetologist from Germany. Many people were cheated but fearing backlash and bad publicity they are scared to complain,” said one of the complainants KT Shameer who said he was duped of ₹3 crore claiming a share in the fictitious museum.
A senior police officer, who did not want to be identified, said Mavunkal was a master conman and owned a fleet of luxury cars. “There are around 30 cars in his yard. We have information that he even brought used and abandoned high-end cars to show off. Maharashtra to Nagaland, number plates vary. It seems most of the VIPs were not aware of his shady past,” he said, adding that Mavunkal also used private security guards and was surrounded by many secretaries. He said fraud worth ₹20 crore has surfaced so far and more complaints are likely. Mavunkal is also believed to head a number of self-made organisations and NGOs. There are unconfirmed reports that some central agencies also sought details about him.
