KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday ordered a probe by CBI in the mysterious death of actor Kalabhavan Mani.
A single judge of the court also directed CBI to take over the case in a month on the petitions filed by Mani’s wife Nimmy and his brother RLV Ramakrishnan seeking a CBI probe.
The court rejected the submission by CBI that it cannot take over the case. CBI had submitted that it could not take over the investigation as its hands were full at the moment with a number of cases. The police could not unearth a cognisable offence in the incident and there was no allegation that the probe by the state police is on the wrong track. Hence no need to take over the case, CBI submitted.
Kalabhavan Mani, a popular actor and singer in Malayalam as well Tamil films, breathed his last on March 6, 2016, aged 45. The police registered a case as unnatural death due to the presence of excessive methyl alcohol with acetaminophen in his body.
The medical board constituted by the state government had filed a report stating, “Mani died of methyl alcohol poisoning.” It said that common pesticides, drugs, alkoloids, metallic and volatile poisons have not been detected in the contents verified by the board.
The report stated that medical board consisting of 10 doctors examined the postmortem certificate, certificate of chemical analysis, examination report from the chemical analysis of the viscera and blood collected from Mani, examination report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad, toxicology report from Amritha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Kochi and histopathology report from Government Medical College, Thrissur.
The test conducted at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad has ruled out pesticide content in the visceral samples of the late actor. The Regional Chemical Examiner’s Laboratory at Kakkanad found substances of a pesticide chlorpyrifos. Following this, the suspected samples of blood, urine, viscera and gastric aspirates had been sent for detailed examination and quantification in the CFSL Hyderabad. The result had revealed that only methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol was detected.
From the post mortem finding, it is revealed that Mani was having severe cirrhosis of liver, jaundice, tuberculosis, kidney dysfunction, severe type two diabetics mellitus.
Expert opinion as to whether the combined effect of above disease condition will cause death is to be obtained. Discussion regarding the above point with various medical experts are going on, the state submitted.