THRISSUR: The relatives of Kalabhavan Mani have put his friends in the dock for his unexpected death after pesticide and methanol residues were found in the chemical examination of the samples tested in the laboratory at Kakkanad.
Mani's brother R. L. V. Ramakrishnan on Thursday had said that his family members suspected foul play in his death. Fresh charges were raised on Friday against his friends who were his constant companions at the outhouse named 'Paadi' in Chalakkudy, where they used to gather every night for liquor party.
"How the pesticide and methanol traces were found in the chemical examination of my brother needs to be investigated in detail and all the suspected persons should be taken into custody. As soon as I get the report of the investigating team, I will file a complaint for registering a murder case and charges need to be slapped on the culprits," Mr Ramakrishnan told DC.
On March 5, when Mani vomited blood and was given a sedative by a doctor for taking him to Amrita hospital in Kochi, his close companions like Arun, residing near Mani's house, Vipin, a resident of Muringoor near Chalakkudy, and Murugan, a worker at his outhouse and nutmeg farm in 'Paadi,' did not bother to inform his relatives residing a kilometre away from the outhouse, Mr Ramakrishnan said.
"After Mani was admitted to Amrita hospital in a serious condition, Vipin and Murugan cleaned the outhouse on the morning of March 6 and took several items in sacks. When the person residing near the outhouse inquired about cleaning the outhouse in haste, they told him that the actor will never return to the outhouse," A. C. Sajith, son of Mani's sister Santha, said.
He also said that Vipin and Murugan after repeated queries from the relatives said that Mani was given a bottle of Coca-Cola during the wee hours on March 5. "My uncle was never in the habit of taking such soft drinks," Sajith said.
Thrissur IG to probe
All possible aspects of actor Kalabhavan Mani's death will be inquired into in detail, Thirssur IG M R Ajith Kumar said. "With the chemical examination of actor Kalabhavan Mani finding pesticide content in his internal organs, it has become a very serious case and if needed, the investigation team presently led by DySP K S Sudarsan will be expanded. As of now, we have not arrested anyone but the friends of Mani, Arun, Vipin and Murugan are being questioned in detail," he told media persons.
Meanwhile, the manager of Mr Mani and neighbour, Joby Sebastain, refuted allegations made by the actor's family that a caucus of his friends were looting the remuneration that the actor got through stage programmes and prevented Mani from taking up film projects.
"I used to tell Mani not to drink and he used to get angry with me whenever I advised him. In Malayalam, the actor was selective about his roles and so he did not act recently. His last films were in Tamil and Telugu three months ago," he said.
