Kerala antique dealer case: Crime Branch officials biased, allege complainants

The complainants in the cases of controversial antique dealer Monson Mavunkal on Monday raised serious allegations against the Crime Branch team probing the matter and alleged that one of the investigating officers took bribes and interfered in the probe.

One of the complainants, Shameer, alleged that the Crime Branch officials took a biased stand in the case to protect some highly-connected persons and police officials in the case.

Mavunkal, who is undergoing multiple life imprisonments in a rape case of minor girl, is also facing trial in a cheating case. KPCC President K Sudhakaran is also an accused in the cheating case involving Mavunkal.

The Crime Branch had earlier arrested and released the senior Congress leader on bail in a case filed on the basis of statements of the complainants who lost their money in the cheating case, claiming that they had handed over the money to Mavunkal in the presence of Sudhakaran.

Today, the complainants alleged that DySP Y R Rustom, the investigating officer, sought money for various reasons and they have filed a complaint with the vigilance wing.

However, Rustom denied the allegations and said the complainants were worried about the investigation into black money transactions in the matter.

''In the cheating case, they claimed that they had handed over Rs 10 crore to Mavunkal, but the bank transaction can be found only for an amount of somewhere around Rs 2.5 crore. It seems like they are worried that there will be a probe into the suspected hawala transaction in the matter,'' Rustom told the media.

Meanwhile, the Crime branch team today conducted an inspection at the sealed house of Mavunkal over a theft complaint filed by his family. When the allegations cropped up against Sudhakaran two years ago, he had denied them.

The issue had snowballed into a political controversy as photographs of Mavunkal along with Sudhakaran emerged. Sudhakaran had said he had gone to Mavunkal's residence for treatment as the latter claimed to be a trained cosmetologist.

Mavunkal had allegedly made false representations about himself and his business to various people and collected money from them. Many photographs of Mavunkal with senior police officers and bureaucrats of the state have surfaced.

Cherthala resident Mavunkal, who claims to be in possession of rare and historic antiques, was arrested by the Crime Branch in September 2021. He is facing charges of having swindled Rs 10 crore from several people, apart from multiple rape cases.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)