As yet another Onam ends, the Malayalee has tasted everything except the folk songs of Kalabhavan Mani. He was one of the greatest versatile actors the Malayalam film industry has ever seen. Even after six months of his death, the investigating team is still trying to confirm whether it was a murder, suicide or natural death.
When the State police failed to find a link into the incident, the LDF government handed over the investigation to the CBI. Mani’s brother Ramakrishnan had also recommended a detailed inquiry to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The Chief Minister had ordered the same in the early part of June this year, as Mani’s death was mysterious in nature.
Following that, the Chalakudy police submitted a request to the Chief Magistrate Court for a polygraph test and the Court has ordered the same for six persons – Mani’s manager Joby, driver Peter, helper Vipin, Anish, Murukan and Arun.
The order that is almost one month old is yet to get a date for the test. Chalakudy Circle Inspector (CI) M.K. Krishnan told The Kochi Post that, “The application has been sent to Trivandrum. Now they have to decide the date for the polygraph test.”
Another shocking revelation according to the Chalakudy Police is that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is yet to take over the case files. Almost three months have passed after the Chief Minister called for a probe in to Mani’s death. But the Central investigation agency is yet to get actively involved.
“The CBI hasn’t taken up the investigation files as yet. The State police has not stopped the investigation and till the CBI takes over the investigation charge, we will continue with the investigation,” said Mr. Krishnan.
According to Mani’s brother RLV Ramakrishnan, the order has not come from Delhi.
“We are waiting for another month. After that we will look at the next step. We are trying to contact the Union government through the Kerala State BJP team. We have talked with Kummanam sir and Suresh Gopi sir. We also have given an application to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, citing the issues. Next we are planning to go to Delhi,” he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnan added that the inquiry done by the State police was not at all satisfactory.
“With the post mortem details and all those things, before going to find out whether it was suicide or murder, they should have found out how things lead to such a situation,” he said.
He also said they are not aware of the details regarding the polygraph test.
After being hospitalised for a critical liver ailment, the actor died at a hospital on March 6. Lab reports confirmed the presence of the highly toxic methyl alcohol in Mani’s body. According to reports, he may have consumed the spurious liquor during a party at a farmhouse.
Main photograph by ShajiA, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
