Insecticide found in Mani's viscera samples

Mystery surrounding the death of actor Kalabhavan Mani had a grim twist after detection of insecticide residues in his viscera samples.

According to a report handed over to the police by officials in the Regional Chemical Examiner’s Laboratory in Kochi, on Friday, the samples contained traces of Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate insecticide.

National Award-winning actor Mani (45) had died at a private hospital in Kochi on March 6. He was suffering from liver and kidney ailments and preliminary reports said his consumption of alcohol two days earlier could have aggravated his condition.

The police have registered a case of unnatural death. Meanwhile, a police team is interrogating three of the actor’s aides — Arun, Vipin and Murukan — after Mani’s brother R L V Ramakrishnan said during a television discussion that he had “suspicions” about them.

The actor had collapsed, reportedly after vomiting blood, at an outhouse near his home in Chalakudy, in Thrissur district, on March 5. Mani had hosted friends and others the previous night; the police said spurious liquor was served during the meet-up.

Ramakrishnan said that the actor’s aides had returned from the hospital in Kochi to Chalakudy and washed the outhouse clean. Ramakrishnan said consumption of spurious liquor could have caused Mani’s death.

“A detailed probe has to be conducted and all the culprits should be punished. We need to know who all were there with my brother the previous day and what they served,” Ramakrishnan told reporters on Friday. According to the United States Environment Protection Agency, Chlorpyrifos “can overstimulate the nervous system causing nausea, dizziness, confusion, and at very high exposures (eg: accidents or major spills), respiratory paralysis and death.”

Mani’s wife Nimmi dismissed rumours of a possible suicide and reports that the actor was under stress over issues in his marriage.