THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Conman Monson Mavunkal had planned to open an archaeological museum in Thiruvananthapuram modelled on the museum at his Kochi residence, said crime branch sources. The crime branch also found a mobile message sent by Monson to Hariprasad, the first accused in the TV Samskara channel case.
Monson testified to the probe team that he had tried to buy the Samskara channel and had a plan to open a museum in the capital. As part of this, Monson said Rs 10 lakh was transferred to the channel through his Benami Joshi. Monson is currently in custody of the crime branch in Thiruvananthapuram.
The interrogation continues for the second day in a case of money laundering by falsely claiming to be the chairman of the channel. Monson was also taken to the office of Samskara channel at Kumarapuram and a sub-office at Karamana on Saturday as part of evidence collection.
The crime branch has also written to the registration department and various banks to check whether Monson has any bank accounts on his benami name. The team decided to probe after they found that he did not have money in his own bank account.
Meanwhile, the Income Tax department has also launched an investigation into the financial fraud of Monson. In the first phase, the investigation will focus on Monson and his associates. The records of Monson's financial and bank transactions were collected by the Income Tax investigation division. At the same time, the Income Tax department will look into the financial transactions of the complainants.
The crime branch was granted custody of Monson on Friday in connection with the case. The crime branch told the court that there was a conspiracy in the incident and they suspect more culprits were involved. Monson's bail application was rejected by the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate court on Friday. He had requested bail in a case of archeological fraud and fraud and forgery in possession of the Beenachi estate in Wayanad.