THRISSUR: Even as the police remain tightlipped over the reported discovery of several bottles of pesticides containing chlorpyrifos from a banana plantation site close to the ancestral house of Kalabhavan Mani, the relatives of the actor said that the veracity of the reports had to be cross-checked.
“No such confiscations have been brought to our notice,” said Sajith, nephew of Kalabhavan Mani. Meanwhile, the newly expanded Special Investigation Team including Crime Branch SP P N Unniraja visited the Pady or the outhouse once more in the course of the day.
“All angles in the case will be probed,” he said, speaking to mediapersons. Earlier, the investigation team had dug up the outhouse and discovered bottles of chemicals and make up by the Pady. The discovery of pesticides, which was made later in the day on Sunday, had been touted as a breakthrough in the case.
Unconfirmed reports also stated that the police were questioning the shopkeepers in the Chalakkudy area who were in the process of selling chlorpyrifos compounds, which was found inside the body of the actor.
On Friday of March 4, a group of the late actor’s friends had arrived at the outhouse where they had reportedly consumed alcohol. The next day, the actor had spat up blood and was hurried off to a nearby Hospital and later to Amrita Institute, where he died on Sunday. The toxicology report, which confirmed pesticide and methanol content, lent credence to suspicions of foul play.