Bid to derail probe into Balabhaskar's death: Kalabhavan Sobi

Kochi: Though violinist Balabhaskar died in a car crash one-and-a-half years ago, fears of dubious action likely by underworld still persist. Artist Kalabhavan Sobi amplified such doubts as he claimed seeing a fishy character around the time of the accident in the wee hours of the fateful day, September 25, 2018. Even as he failed the polygraph test held by the investigators in a bid to ascertain the genuineness of his sensational claim, he has alleged that efforts to sabotage the CBI investigations are still on and he fears harm from vested interests.

Sobi also trashed latest media reports stating that statements he had given in connection with Balabhaskar's death are lies and he had not co-operated fully with the probe. He cited them as one proof of the bid to derail the probe being held to confirm if the musician was eliminated by vested interests as is feared by his kin too.

"I came to know that a woman in Israel had passed on the same information, which appeared in the news reports, to some people in Kerala through her intermediaries. I have conveyed the matter to DySP Ananthakrishnan," Sobi said.

"This is how they want to conclude the case. When this information is conveyed as news at this stage the objective is to sabotage the case investigations and nothing else."

Without elaborating, Sobi had claimed the Israeli had sent the intermediaries to him.

Sobi trashes allegations

Sobi said he had spoken to the investigation officer after seeing the news reports on Thursday morning. “I will not accept if they say that the statement given by me was false and that I had not cooperated with the investigations. When asked to appear before CBI at 12 noon, I used to be there at their office as early as 9 am. So when the investigating officials say that I did not cooperate with the probe then it is also their responsibility to tell when and where. Otherwise they will be made to answer in the court,” he added.

Sobi also said he had demanded brain-mapping test. “But limiting the test to a polygraph test also raises suspicion. The DySP said that the details of the polygraph test were not disclosed by the investigating team to anyone before submitting them in the court. I believe him. He told me that I continue to remain the prime witness of the investigation team,” Sobi recounted.

"The DySP said that they had scaled up surveillance to ensure that nothing untoward happens to me," Sobi told Onmanorama.

As reported earlier the relatives of the violinist became suspicious about the mishap after Prakashan Thampi and Vishnu, who were the organisers of Balabhaskar's musical events, were booked in a case pertaining to gold smuggling at the Trivandrum International Airport.