THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Either laxity or a deliberate cover-up bid by the top brass of the Kerala Police has aided fraudster Monson Mavunkal in his dubious deals over the past two years, reveals documents accessed by TNIE. The then state police chief Loknath Behera and Intelligence ADGP TK Vinodkumar were aware of the suspicious deals carried out by Monson as early as May 2019. But no concrete step was taken to probe the case further or to trap the suspect.
“Monson possessed more than 100 imported luxury cars. The price of the artefacts, antiques, etc he had were valued at more than Rs 1 lakh crore. Monson is an international fraud and most artefacts are not genuine and some others are stolen. He has not paid the wealth tax worth crores of rupees,” stated the source report that was forwarded by Behera to the intelligence ADGP in May, 2019, seeking a detailed probe by the special branch.
It is learnt that a few weeks later, another report was filed by the special branch underlining the allegations. But that report was shelved in the police headquarters. In August 2020, a case for financial fraud was registered against Monson at the Pandalam police station based on a complaint by Rajendran Pillai, owner of the Sreevalsom group of companies. That investigation did not progress beyond the FIR as an inspector general at the police headquarters pulled the strings. On his instruction, Monson filed a counter complaint against Pillai, which was later found to be fake, it is learnt.
According to sources, Behera wrote to the Enforcement Directorate director in January last year warning about Monson and seeking a probe into his business empire. However, there was no inquiry by the ED, nor a reminder from the state. Behera’s letter to the ED said film workers and celebrities were frequent visitors to Monson’s “Kosmos beauty clinic” at Cherthala.
“Monson was financing heavily on an expensive renovation of a church. Most of the time he was abroad or in Delhi and owned 15 luxury cars. He owned costly pet dogs including Korean Mastiff, which cost around Rs 65 lakh to two crore. The source of income seemed to be a mystery,” Behera noted in his missive.
Behera says he has no links with Monson
On Monday, social media was flooded with pictures of former DGP Behera and incumbent headquarters ADGP Manoj Abraham visiting the antique collection museum of Monson in Kaloor and posing for photographs by carrying the artefacts. Video footage of retired DIG S Surendran and family members celebrating festivals with Monson were also out. Former chief secretary Jiji Thomson also seemed to share a cordial bond with the fraudster.
When contacted, Behera said he has no links with the person and the photo was taken when he visited the museum run by Monson in Kochi. Jiji Thomson said that he had attended a meeting as Monson was an office-bearer of the World Malayali Federation. Manoj Abraham was unavailable for comments. G Lakshman, Headquarters IG, is learnt to have received a show cause notice for allegedly interfering with a probe ordered against Monson.
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