Kerala HC directs CBI to probe actor Mani s death

Kochi April 12 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the CBI to begin a probe within a month into the death of actor Kalabhavan Mani.

The family of Mani approached the court seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.

Mani 45 who acted in 200 films in Malayalam and other languages was admitted in a hospital here on March 4 last year as he said to be suffering from a liver ailment. He died two days later.

A police probe team has even after more than three months not been able to make much headway even as forensic experts said an insecticide (chlorpyrifos) was found in the actor s body.

Mani was staying at a 30-acre farmhouse near Chalakkudy away from his home where his wife and daughter reside.

After his death hospital authorities reported the presence of a chemical in the body leading to speculation that he may not have been died a natural death.

Since then the family has been demanding a probe to ascertain the real cause of the death. The Kerala government last year too sought a CBI probe but the agency had not taken it up.

Earlier this month Mani s brother R.L.V. Ramakrishnan met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and repeated the family s demand that the real truth come out only through a CBI probe.

--IANS
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