Kochi: KPCC president K Sudhakaran will not appear before the police team probing the Monson Mavunkal cheating case in which he has been named an accused. The Congress leader announced his decision at a press meet at Aluva here on Tuesday.
Sudhakaran said he will face the case legally and politically. "We have all the benefits of the law. Truth and justice are on our side," he said in his first reaction after the police named him an accused in the case.
Sudhakaran said he will not be able to appear before the Crime Branch as he has to attend a meeting of newly appointed Congress block committee leaders in Kozhikode on Wednesday. He said he will inform the police about his inconvenience in writing. If the police don't entertain it, legal ways will be explored, he said.
Sudhakaran reiterated that he didn't have any connection with the case. He said he was not a witness to Monson receiving money from the complainants. Sudhakaran said the case against him was part of a conspiracy involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"We have swum across several seas. To us this case is only a small stream," the state Congress chief said.
He said he dropped the plan to file a complaint against Monson after the accused apologised to him. "I didn't want to go after the case," he said. Sudhakaran had sought treatment from Monson believing his claim of being a trained cosmetologist.
Crime Branch on Monday served notice on Sudhakaran to appear for questioning at its office in Kalamassery on Wednesday.
The issue snowballed into a political controversy after images of Monson Mavunkal with Sudhakaran came out.
A native of Cherthala in Alappuzha, Monson Mavunkal, who claimed to be in possession of rare and historic antiques, was arrested in September 2021 by the Crime Branch wing of the Kerala police probing into complaints against the dealer of having swindled Rs 10 crore from several people.
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 had also come out.
