Kerala seeks CBI probe into actor Kalabhavan Mani's death

Thiruvananthapuram: With three months of police investigation into the death of actor Kalabhavan Mani getting nowhere, the new Kerala government is seeking a CBI probe.

The state government has written to the Department of Personnel and Training requesting that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be asked to investigate the mysterious death of the popular actor on March 6.

Mani's brother R.L.V. Ramakrishnan welcomed the move. 

"We had raised this demand and spoken to all concerned and finally this has come. The truth has to come out," he said. 

Mani, 45, who acted in 200 films in Malayalam and other languages, was admitted to a hospital in Kochi on March 4. Said to be suffering from a liver ailment, he died two days later.

Forensic experts said an insecticide, called Chlorpyrifos, was found in the actor's body, leading his family to believe that there was foul play involved in Mani's death.

At the time of his death the actor had been staying at a 30-acre farmhouse near Chalakudy in Thrissur district, away from his home where his wife and daughter reside.