KPCC chief K. Sudhakaran arrested in Monson Mavunkal fraud case

Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president K. Sudhakaran was arrested by the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police in the Monson Mavunkal fake antique deal cheating case. The Crime Branch arrested Sudhakaran after seven hours of interrogation. This controversial case was registered on September 23, 2021, when a group of six people filed a complaint alleging that self-styled antique dealer and influencer Mavunkal cheated them of Rs 10 crore.

Mavunkal allegedly took money from the complainants by claiming that Rs 2.62 lakh crore he had earned by selling antiques to a royal family in the Gulf had been put on hold by the Union government and that he required money to get it released.

The complainants stated that Sudhakaran was present when they handed over the money to the dealer. Later, pictures of Sudhakaran with the antique dealer also surfaced in the public domain. According to the complainants, during a meeting held at Mavunkal's house in Kochi's Kaloor, Sudhakaran promised to resolve the issues in Delhi and based on that promise, they handed over the money to Mavunkal. Anoop, one of the complainants, told the Crime Branch that he had given Rs 25 lakh to Monson in the presence of Sudhakaran.

On June 12, the Crime Branch implicated Sudhakaran as the second accused in the case. The Crime Branch submitted a report, prepared after more than a year of investigation, to the Ernakulam ACJM court, accusing the Kannur leader of complicity in the case.

On June 10, 2023, the Crime Branch issued a notice to Sudhakaran stating that they had received "credible information" regarding his involvement in the crime. Initially, Sudhakaran was asked to appear before the Crime Branch on June 14, 2023. However, he failed to do so, citing his pre-arranged party programmes. As a result, the Crime Branch instructed him to appear on June 23, 2023.

On January 21, Sudhakaran was granted interim anticipatory bail for two weeks in the case. The court ordered the leader to appear before the investigation officers on June 23 in compliance with the notice issued by the Crime Branch. The court also ruled that Sudhakaran would be released on bail upon execution of a bond for Rs. 50,000 with two solvent sureties in case of arrest.

On Friday, the Crime Branch interrogated Sudhakaran for seven hours. Despite having anticipatory bail, the Crime Branch decided to arrest the Congress leader and then release him on bail. Political observers view this as a clear message from the Pinarayi Vijayan government to the Congress, indicating that it will not hesitate to arrest Sudhakaran in the future. The Congress party sees the arrest as a highly provocative move and is planning major protests in the state in the coming days.

Earlier this month, the state government sanctioned a vigilance probe against opposition leader V.D. Satheeshan as well. The allegation is that the leader violated FCRA regulations in relation to overseas funding for a project aimed at helping flood victims in his constituency. Interestingly, this is a case that the vigilance had previously considered but dropped in 2020. The grand old party is trying to build the narrative that the ruling party's actions are intended to divert public attention from the fraud and forgery cases that recently surfaced against its student leaders.