CBI takes over probe into Kerala musician's death

Thiruvananthapuram : Almost 22 months after the death of hugely popular young musician Balabhaskar in a road accident, near here, the CBI has taken up the probe, for which an FIR has now been lodged by the CBI.

The Kerala government sought a CBI probe in December last year, after the request came from his father.

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

While the daughter died on the spot, Balabhaskar passed away on October 2. His wife and driver escaped with injuries.

Soon after the incident occurred, doubts surfaced on who was driving the car, when it met with the accident, when some reports said it was driven by the driver, some other reports mentioned that it was driven by the musician himself.

Incidentally the first revelation came a few days later, when popular stage artiste Kalabhavan Soby said it was not an accident, as he noticed 'certain things' at the accident site, when he passed through that way, soon after the incident took place.

One reason why this new CBI probe will attract more attention is the alleged presence of one person, now arrested in the gold smuggling case, soon after the accident took place.

It was the musician's father C.K. Unni, who first raised apprehensions in the Kerala Crime Branch Police probe, then, as he felt it was a probe that lacked conviction as despite their requests, a few things were not being looked into, by them.