THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CBI probing the suspicious death of violinist Balabhaskar and his daughter in a road accident visited the accident spot near Pallippuram and a petrol station nearby and collected evidence.The sleuths dropped by the fuel station located two kilometres from the accident site after Kalabhavan Sobi, a sound recordist who claimed to be a witness to the happenings before and after the crash, testified that he had seen a blue Innova car being attacked by a group of men sometime before the accident occurred.
Sobi had given this statement to the CBI sleuths after which they decided to bring him to the location to collect evidence. Sobi, sources said, told the investigators that a group of people who came in a white car had broken the rear glass of the blue Innova car, which was similar to the vehicle used by the late violinist. A person was sitting in the front passenger seat, but he could not spot who it was, Sobi reportedly told the CBI sleuths who had recorded his statement.
He had also said the attack happened near the petrol station around midnight when he had pulled over the car to take a nap. The group of men who arrived in a white Scorpio car broke the rear glass of the Innova car using a jack handle. Soon, a second vehicle also reached the area from which another group alighted and broke the windshield of the blue car. After this, all three cars sped towards Thiruvananthapuram side.
Sobi’s claim came as a surprise as he did not reveal this incident to the Crime Branch, which had probed the case earlier. Sources close to Sobi said though he wanted to reveal every bit of information he had, the Crime Branch sleuths did not take him seriously and were not ready to record his full statement. The CBI officers spoke with the petrol station employees to corroborate Sobi’s claims. They replied that they did not notice any traces of shattered glass in the vicinity of their station that night.
The team also visited Mangalapuram police station where Balabhaskar’s car has been lying and collected evidence. Balabhaskar and his daughter Tejaswini Bala were killed in a road accident near Pallippuram on September 25, 2018.