Never knew Monson Mavunkal was a fraudster: Actor Sreenivasan

Kochi, Oct 1 (IANS) Popular actor Sreenivasan has said that he never knew the now arrested fake antique dealer Monson Mavunkal was a fraudster.

Speaking to the media, Sreenivasan said he never knew Mavunkal as an antique dealer and he visited him at his house as he was a 'doctor'.

"At that time, he was a doctor, now I don't know about it. He claimed himself to be a cosmetologist and I went to him not to see his antiques but for medical reasons, which I had. After speaking to him, he directed me to an Ayurveda hospital in a nearby district," said Sreenivasan.

"As directed by him, I went to the Ayurveda hospital and was there for around two weeks. After getting discharged, when I went to pay the bill, I was told the bill had been paid by Mavunkal. I was surprised about that and after that I have never seen him or met him," added Sreenivasan.

54-year-old Mavunkal was arrested by the Crime Branch police from his home cum museum, here on Saturday after some people approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan with their complaints that they had been swindled of Rs 10 crore by Mavunkal.

Sreenivasan went on to add that 'of the six people who complained against Mavunkal, two of them are big time fraudsters, as one of them cheated his own uncle'.

"Since I know, I say the two are big frauds, but I will not name them," added Sreenivasan, who went on to say that Mavunkal even promised to give Rs 5 crore without interest to his friend to produce a film.

Ever since the arrest of Mavunkal surfaced, social media has been full of trolls. One of a social media post showed Sreenivasan seated at the antique museum of Mavunkal, on a chair which he used to claim was the throne of Tipu Sultan.

Incidentally, the news is also emanating that Mavunkal is believed to have cheated superstar Mohanlal also by giving him a watch which he told was an antique. But, later Mohanlal realised that he was cheated as this watch is available in the Middle East for a very small price. A picture of Mohanlal and Mavunkal is also going around.