Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the mysterious 2016 death of Malayalam actor Kalabhavan Mani, on Wednesday recorded the statement of director Vinayan.
The director's film 'Chalakkudikkaran Changathi' is apparently based on the actor's life and it portrays his untimely death as due to murder. The filmmaker said that he has given his explanation to the CBI regarding the film's climax which suggests Mani was killed.
"As an artist, I gave my own interpretation for the climax. Apart from that I don't have any evidence with me. I have informed the same to the CBI officials," the director said.
The central agency grilled the director for nearly 45 minutes.
Mani, a popular actor in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films, was found in a serious condition at his farmhouse at Chalakudy on March 5, 2016. He died at a private hospital in Kochi the next day. The actor was reportedly undergoing treatment for a liver ailment.
However, after traces of chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide, was found in his viscera sample and traces of methyl alcohol were found in his blood, his family members demanded a CBI probe.
Mani's wife Nimmi and brother R L V Ramakrishnan had approached the Kerala High Court seeking CBI probe into the actor's death.
The Kerala High Court in April 2017 ordered the CBI to take over the probe after rejecting the agency's stand that it cannot investigate the case due to workload.
The CBI took over the probe into the case in May 2017.
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