Kochi, Sep 26 (PTI): A dealer in antiques has been arrested here on the charge of cheating people of Rs 10 crore, police said on Sunday.

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A native of Cherthala in Alappuzha district of Kerala, the dealer Monson Mavunkal was arrested on Sunday and remanded in judicial custody. He had borrowed the sum from several people by saying he needed money to clear some procedures to obtain Rs 2.65 crore from his bank account when there was no such account, the police official told PTI.

Today, the official said, a raid was conducted on Mavunkal's museum of replicas he sold as antiques. Also, there were a few genuine antiques, but they were not expensive; and there were items actually made by a carpenter from Thiruvananthapuram, the police official said. A week ago, a few of the complainants approached the Chief Minister of the State Pinarayi Vijayan and told the latter that Mavunkal had cheated them of Rs 10 crore, the police official added.

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)