Kerala HC orders further CBI probe into violinist Balabhaskar's death

Kochi: Kerala High Court on Thursday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to further investigate violinist Balabhaskar’s accidental death, following a petition filed by his father.

The petitioner, K. C. Unni, claimed that the probe agency's investigation into the accident that took place in the state capital in 2018 was not foolproof and sought the court's intervention.

After hearing the plea, the court ordered a further investigation and asked the CBI to submit its report within three months.

In June last year, a local court accepted the CBI's report which described it as an "accidental" death and there was no evidence to prove otherwise.

The Crime Branch report also had concluded that the road accident was caused due to the rash driving of the driver.

However, Unni decided to approach the High Court and after hearing the fresh order, he reacted by saying that he wanted to know the truth about his son's death.

"I have reasons to believe that something has gone wrong somewhere and hence wish to know the truth. I suspect that there has been a conspiracy and there are financial issues also. The death was not an ordinary one," said Unni.

Balabhaskar (40), was travelling with his wife and two-year-old daughter from Thrissur to Thiruvananthapuram early on September 25, 2018, when their car met with an accident in the outskirts of the state capital city.

While the daughter died on the spot, injured Balabhaskar passed away on October 2.

His wife and driver escaped with injuries.

Soon after the accident, an issue regarding who was driving the car during the accident came up and some reports said the driver was at the wheels, while others said it was the violinist.

In December 2019, his father approached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, seeking his help for a CBI probe and the government subsequently sought a CBI probe.

After 22 months of Balabhaskar's death, the CBI took up the case, probed it in detail, and then submitted its report terming the death "accidental", and it was against this report that Unni approached the High Court.

With inputs from IANS

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