CBI to probe Malayalam actor Kalabhavan Mani's death

The Kerala government on Saturday announced its decision to hand over the case of actor Kalabhavan Mani's death to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A notification was issued by the Home secretary based on the recommendation of the state DGP.

Mani's family members had earlier approached the state government seeking a CBI probe into his death which occurred under strange circumstances.

According to reports, the family members wanted the probe to be investigated by an agency which was not influenced by any external elements.

The development comes in the wake of a lab report confirming the presence of highly toxic methyl alcohol, also called methanol in his body.

The lab reports from Hyderabad mentioned that high content of spurious liquor was present in his blood samples.

The police team probing the death of the actor reportedly got the lab report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad.

Earlier, a lab report had stated that toxic pesticide Chlorpyrifos was there in Mani's body, which was ruled out in the report.

Mani passed away at a hospital in Kochi on March 6. The 45 year old had been hospitalised for liver ailment where he was admitted in the ICU in a critical condition.