Kerala High Court Directs Probe Into Controversial Antique Dealer's Alleged Links With Senior Police Officers, Grants Police Protection To His Former Driver

The Kerala High Court on Thursday granted police protection to controversial fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal''s former driver who had moved the Court alleging harassment from his ex-employer and certain police officers close to him.Justice Devan Ramachandran has also sought for the State Police Chief to be impleaded in the matter to conduct an elaborate probe into the grave allegations put forth by the petitioner against some of the superior police officers and their alleged links with the bogus collector.The Court also remarked: "When this petition was filed in August, not a soul knew about Mavunkal. Now the allegations raised in the petition have acquired a new colour, and the entire world knows about him."This is in light of the fact that Mavunkal had recently made headlines in the State after his antique collection scam was busted by the Crime Branch pursuant to a complaint of cheating being filed against him. The dealer's former driver had earlier approached the Court seeking police protection alleging that after he made disclosures before the police against Mavunkal, the latter through some senior police officers and continued to harass him.The antique dealer has been arrayed as the 5th respondent in the matter. The court opined that assistance of the State Police Chief would be required to adjudicate the matter and thereby allowed the impleading petition..In his petition, filed through Advocate Thomas T Varghese, the driver had alleged that Mavunkal also threatened to implicate him in criminal cases and other dire consequences if he disclosed any information about the deception. The petitioner also alleged to have been intimidated by threats from senior police officers to be thrown behind bars.The petitioner was the dealer's driver and mechanic from 2009 till January this year. In his plea, he contended that after he made certain disclosures in the criminal case, the concerned Circle Inspector and the Station House Officer summoned him to their offices and threatened him with dire consequences if he failed to appear before them.Additionally, it was also submitted that when he informed the District Police Chief of Alappuzha and the Commissioner of Police of Ernakulam about the alleged harassment, no action was taken till date. Meanwhile, the petitioner alleged that the CI and SHO were still continuing with their intimidatory tactics.He added that the disclosures he made were in connection with a cheating complaint made against Mavunkal by the complainant who had accused the dealer of cheating him of Rs 6 crore.Mavunkal, who widely claimed to be in possession of historic antiques including Tippu Sultan's throne and Jesus Christ's clothing, was arrested by the Crime Branch recently for swindling Rs 10 crore from several people.The matter will be taken up again on October 5th. Case Title: Ajith E.V. v. The Commissioner of Police & Ors.Click Here To Read The Interim Order

Kerala High Court Directs Probe Into Controversial Antique Dealer's Alleged Links With Senior Police Officers, Grants Police Protection To His Former Driver

Hannah M Varghese

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