New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the probe into the death of noted violinist Balabhaskar and his daughter Tejaswini.
The Crime Branch had earlier investigated the 2018 case. The state government issued a notification in last December, handing over the case to the CBI.
The popular violinist and his toddler daughter were killed in a car accident at Pallipuram near Thiruvananthapuram in the wee hours of September 25, 2018. Balabhaskar and family were on their way home after visiting a temple in Thrissur when their car rammed a tree by the roadside. Their daughter died on the spot, and Balabhaskar succumbed to the injuries while under treatment at the hospital. His wife Lakshmi and friend Arjun, who were also in the car suffered injuries but survived.
The Crime Branch concluded that the accident was caused due to speeding and ruled out any suspicion. A row was triggered after Arjun said that Balabhaskar drove the car at the time of the accident, while Lakshmi said Arjun was at the wheel. A forensic report later found that Arjun was driving the car.
The case got murkier after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) arrested Prakash Thambi, a close aide of Balabhaskar, in connection with the smuggling of 25kg gold through the Thiruvananthapuram airport in 2019.
After suspicions were raised over the accident, Balabhaskar’s family requested the government for a CBI probe into the case. His father Unni even met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and said that he suspected a conspiracy behind the incident.
His relatives demanded that a probe should be held to ascertain if the gold smuggling case accused had any link to the road accident that killed Balabhaskar and his daughter.
