The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala is facing allegations of a political witch-hunt after Congress president K. Sudhakaran was named in a cheating case involving police officers and a quack-cum-antique dealer whose claim to fame was articles ranging from the staff of Moses to the throne of Tipu Sultan.

The police crime branch has named Sudhakaran as the second accused in the case for allegedly accepting Rs 10 lakh from Monson Mavunkal, who has been in judicial custody since September 2021 as part of an alleged deal to sell the fake antiques.

Coming just two days after the leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan was named in a case accusing him of illegally collecting foreign funds, the principal Opposition party accused chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan of witch-hunt.

Inspector-general of police G. Lakshman and retired deputy inspector general S. Surendran are the other accused.

Monson was arrested for allegedly swindling Rs 10crore from six people in a deal for the “antiques”, most of which turned out to be cheap replicas of very recent origin. Among the fake antiques found in his possession were the staff of Moses, a piece of Jesus’s attire, the throne of Tipu Sultan, the title deed of Mysore Palace, and the walking stick used by Kerala social reformer Sree Narayana Guru.

At the height of the scam,a picture showing Sudhakaran with Monson at the latter’s home in Ernakulam had led to accusations about their closeness. But Sudhakaran had clarified that he had visited Monson guided by the popular notion that he was a doctor.

A visibly livid Sudhakaran on Tuesday told a mediaconference in Aluva that he had nothing to do with Monson.

“I have already made it clear that I have absolutely no role in this cheating case involving Monson. I am sticking to that same stand,” he said.

He accused the chief minister of trying to silence the Opposition by trapping Satheesan and himself in cases. “The other day Satheesan was booked in a case. And now it’s me. If Vijayan is under the assumption that he can scare us into silence with such cases, I can only say he is living in a fool’s paradise,” Sudhakaran said.

Sudhakaran asked why two police officers havebeen booked while a former director-general of police(DGP) seen at Monson’shome was spared. While he didn’t take names, Sudhakaran was apparently referring to former DGP Loknath Behera, who is now in a post-retirement assignment as managing director of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd.

CPM state secretary M.V. Govindan justified the case against Sudhakaran. “There is neither any conspiracy nor anything unnatural in naming him in this case as it is only part of the police action, ” he told reporters.