Kochi (Kerala): Two silver coins from the 30 coins Judas was paid for betraying Jesus, the Biblical crosier of Mosses, a lamp that is still burning with the olive oil used by Muhammed Nabi, the white towel that used to wipe the face of Jesus when he was brought down from the Cross, the document of Mysore palace, the crown of Tipu, books from the libraries of Mugal kings, antiques from the palace of Chatrapathi Sivaji, original painting of Davinci and all of these were 'available' in a private museum in Kochi and the owner of the museum was Monson Mavungal, who is now being arrested for cheating several people through his fake antique business.
Monsonmavungal.com and his Youtube channel still claim to sell these items, at their museum located at Kaloor in Kochi. It is shocking that there were thousands of people who believed this high-profile conman, who used his connections with senior politicians, IPS officers, and Chief Secretaries to lure his victims to the trade.
Monson Mavungal is similar to a character who stepped right out from a blockbuster Hollywood crime thriller. He could put the best fraudster in the world to shame with his superbly crafted and meticulously implemented trickery.
He make people believe that he had 8 doctorates and was a Germany trained cosmetologist. He had in fact treated K Sudhakaran, the present KPCC president to bring back his youthfulness, through a treatment called Kayakalpam (said to be an ancient treatment method to prevent aging). He claimed he was an antique expert who had been in the trade for over 25 years and was a member of the World Peace Council. He earned well through his Youtube channel, mostly presenting his fake antique materials and describing them.
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When he finally landed in the police net, following a complaint to Chief Minister from Yakub, a native of Kozhikode, countless skeletons are tumbling out of the closet and his connections with VVIPs of Kerala too are coming out. Yakub told the police that Monson had collected Rs. 25 lakhs from him offering to make him his business partner and later cheated him. Yakub said Monson had collected Rs.10 crores from many people in a similar way and cheated all of them.
Yakub's allegations were just the tip of an iceberg of unbelievable proportions. Many who had worked with Monson started coming out to depose against the fraudster. Aji, who has been a close companion of Monson for over 10 years said that most of these antiques that Monson claimed to have collected from museums around the world during his trips abroad, were actually made by his own carpenters from Cherthala in Alappuzha.
His 'most priced' collections the crosier of Mosses and the thrown of Tipu Sultan were made by the carpenters in Cherthala. Some of the items were collected from Kochi at throwaway prices and remodeled to suit the image of antique lovers.
Police said Monson had sold these items, most of them do not even cost Rs. 10,000, at huge prices claiming them to be original antiques. He also collected money from many offerings to make them business partners.
He used the money he collected to grow socially, befriending top bureaucrats and cinema actors. He made it a point to photograph all the VVIPs visited his 'museum' and posted them on social media to grow his credibility. Whenever someone found out his fraudulent ways, he used the high-ranked police officials to threaten the complainants and suppressed the cases against him.