High Court orders CBI probe into Kalabhavan Mani’s death

More than a year after the death of actor Kalabhavan Mani, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the case.
Late actor Kalabhavan Mani (Photo Courtesy: Facebook via IamKalabhavanMani)
Late actor Kalabhavan Mani (Photo Courtesy: Facebook via IamKalabhavanMani)

KOCHI: More than a year after the death of actor Kalabhavan Mani, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered a CBI probe into the case.


A single judge also directed the CBI to take over the case within a month. The court issued the order on the petitions filed by Mani’s wife Nimmy and brother R L V Ramakrishnan. The court held the CBI cannot evade its responsibility under the excuse of lack of manpower and infrastructure.

The death of a public figure cannot be treated as an ordinary case. “I feel that to do complete justice to the petitioners and to instill confidence in public mind, it is necessary to direct the CBI to probe the case,” the court said. 


The court observed the petitioners do not have any allegation against the professional competence or investigative skill of the team of police officers.

The matter involved appeared to be either complex or facts have diverse manifestation, with certain hidden details, missing links or undetected leads that required to be unearthed with a more sophisticated approach. Evidently, despite the efforts of the police, the state government, on the advise of the state police chief, also felt the matter required to be investigated by the CBI.

Considering the nature of facts disclosed in the case, the state was justified in referring the matter for CBI investigation.


The court said the wisdom of the state in arriving at such a decision was not challenged by anybody. Further, being a matter relating to the death of a well-known cinema artist, apart from the special interest of the family members and relatives, the public at large and even those outside the state have a considerable interest in knowing the truth. 


The court rejected the submission of the CBI it cannot take over the case. It had submitted it could not take over the investigation as its hands were full at the moment with several other cases. “The police could not unearth cognizable offence in the incident. And there was no allegation the probe by the state police was on the wrong track. Hence, there is no need to take over the case,’’ the CBI had submitted.


The medical board constituted by the state government had filed a report stating, ‘Mani died of methyl alcohol poisoning.’ It said common pesticides, drugs, alkaloids, metallic and volatile poisons were detected in Mani’s body.

The test conducted at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad  ruled out pesticide content in the visceral samples of the late actor. 


The Regional Chemical Examiner’s Laboratory at Kakkanad had earlier found traces of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Following this, the samples of blood urine viscera and gastric aspirates were sent for detailed examination and quantification to CFSL. The result revealed only methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol were detected, the state submitted. 

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