KOCHI: Police have registered a case against conman Monson Mavunkal for sexually abusing a minor girl. The case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence (POCSO) Act was registered at Ernakulam North Police Station following a complaint of the victim and her mother on Monday evening.
According to the police, the sexual abuses occurred on various occasions in 2019 when the victim visited Monson's rented house in Kaloor in Kochi after being promised to arrange financial assistance for the college admission.
"When the incident occurred, the victim was a minor. She was looking for college admission after completing the Plus-II. She was abused by Monson several times. Fearing that Monson is a very influential person with close association with politicians and bureaucrats, the family feared giving a complaint then. It was only after his arrest, the family have come forward with the complaint," a police official said.
According to the officer, it is suspected that several other minor girls have undergone similar harrowing experiences from Monson. "Monson cheated many girls from financially poor background promising to give scholarship for their education. He propagated it as his charity activities to impress influential persons. From the preliminary inquiry, it is suspected that there are more such victims and cases can be registered only based on complaints we receive," the police official said.
Meanwhile, police will seek the opinion of the Crime Branch before further proceeding with the investigation. Currently, a special team under the Crime Branch is investigating various cheating cases registered against Monson.
"There are six cases registered against Monson probed by various units of Crime Branch. We are checking with the Crime Branch whether its team will be probing this POCSO case as well. A decision in this regard will be taken soon. We have recorded the statement of the victim and the relatives as part of the probe," the police official said.
Monson is currently in jail after remanded in various cheating cases.