Congress chief Sudhakaran arrested in fraud case, released on bail

Thiruvananthapuram: KPCC (Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee) president K Sudhakaran was arrested on Friday in a cheating case in which fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal is the first accused.

The veteran Congress leader had been quizzed for nearly 7 hours by the crime branch prior to the arrest. He is likely to be released on bail soon based on the High Court directive. 

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday, while asking Sudhakaran to appear before the Crime Branch on June 23, had said that in the event he is arrested in the cheating case, he shall be released on bail on furnishing a bond of Rs 50,000 with two sureties of the like amount.

Sudhakaran appeared before the Crime Branch on Friday morning.

The Crime Branch had decided to interrogate the KPCC president on the basis of a statement by complainants, who lost their money in the cheating case, claiming they had handed over money to Mavunkal in the presence of Sudhakaran.

Earlier, the agency had submitted an additional report before the court here, arraigning Sudhakaran as an accused in the case.

When the allegations cropped up against him two years ago, Sudhakaran denied them.

The issue had snowballed into a political controversy as images 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 images of Mavunkal with senior police officers and bureaucrats of the state have surfaced.

Cherthala native 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.

(With PTI inputs)