Kerala Thug Monson Mavunkal who earned millions by duping celeb and politicians arrested

For close to a decade, 52-year-old Monson Mavunkal used a mixture of deceit, charm, and carefully cultivated influence to make the implausible possible.

Motivational speaker, doctor, cosmetologist, art promoter, antique collector, YouTube star – he was everything. Until Sunday, when he was arrested.

In an operation that fit perfectly with the dramatic story of his life, he was arrested at a function to mark his daughter’s engagement, even as the local police station was kept in the dark.

Soon after the ceremony ended, police personnel in plain clothes swooped down on Mavunkal, evading pistol-brandishing bouncers who tried to prevent the arrest.

The bouncers fled when they realised the men were from the Kerala Crime Branch. The weapons they left behind, the police soon found, were toys.

There are 14 FIRs registered against Mavunkal in various police stations across the state, with the sections ranging from 450 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (impersonation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) to 471 (using forged documents) of the Indian Penal Code.

For years, he built his identity as that of a social climber. As different state police chiefs took charge over the years, he was always among the first to felicitate them, making sure there was a photograph.

These photos he later used in his world of truth, half-truths and lies, making people believe that he knew people across the world, from the Sultan of Brunei to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.