THRISSUR: Malayalam television anchor and serial actor Sabu was questioned by the police on Thursday in connection with the death of Kalabhavan Mani.
The Chalakkudy police recorded his statement after quizzing him for over three hours from 11. 30 a.m. in the wake of some WhatsApp messages being circulated against him in connection with Mani’s death.
“He along with actor Jaffer Idukki were staying in Chalakkudy for a film shoot and on the night of March 4, they were at ‘Paadi,’ the outhouse of Mani. But from his statement we did not find anything suspicious,” DySP K. S. Sudarsan leading the investigating team told DC.
The team of friends had come to ‘Paadi’ around 7.30 p.m. and left by midnight. Mani was found lying unconscious in the outhouse and admitted to Amrita Hospital in Kochi on March 5 and the actor died the next day.
Sabu, well-known for hosting the show ‘Tharikida,’ told mediapersons that he had not brought liquor to the outhouse and that Mani did not drink in his presence. Earlier, Jaffer Idukki was on record saying that he saw Mani in a jubilant mood and was drinking beer that night. Sabu added that he would take legal action against those spreading the WhatsApp messages.
The police have recorded the statements of some 75 persons and they are verifying the call records of the actor starting from March 2015. The forensic surgeon, who conducted the post-mortem of the actor, has told the investigating team that advanced liver cirrhosis, internal bleeding and infection in kidneys could have led to Mani’s death.
Only after the toxicology report of his internal organs and the quantitative analysis of his blood samples from the regional analytical laboratory in Kakanad anything could be said about the traces of methanol found in the actor’s blood, the DySP said. The report is expected next week.
However, Mani’s brother Ramakrishnan expressed suspicion over the circumstances that led to the actor’s death. He alleged that all people who were with Mani the day before the death are under suspicion.
