Mid Day, Mumbai, 08 March 2016

12
our nation
tuesday, march 8, 2016, mumbai, web www.mid-day.com, twitter @mid_day
Malayalam actor died
of poisoning from beer?
More questions have been raised after the hospital report
stated that Kalabhavan Mani may have died from
poisoning, although his manager insists he only drank beer
VINOD KUMAR MENON
Remembering
Kalabhavan Mani
[email protected]
THE sudden death of popular
Malayalam
film
actor
Kalabhavan Mani could result
in more shockwaves — not
only have the Kerala police
registered a case of unnatural
death on suspicion of poisoning, it’s possible there was foul
play involved.
Here are the facts: after the
45-year-old passed away on
Sunday evening at Amrita
Institute of Medical Science
and Research Centre, Kochi,
the hospital issued a police
intimation report that said the
lab reports had shown ‘suspicion of poisoning’. ACP
(Ernakulam) Vijayan K V
revealed that ‘methanol had
been detected in the urine and
blood samples’.
Close aides of the actor said
he and his friends had consumed alcohol at his outhouse
at Chalakudy in Thrissur on
Friday evening. The next
morning, he began to vomit
blood and he was eventually
admitted on Saturday evening.
However, it is unclear how the
toxic methanol entered his system, as the actor’s manger
Shobi, informed the police that
he would only consume beer.
As experts confirmed to
mid-day, methanol poisoning
from beer is unheard of.
Questions
There are several other questions that need answering,
such as why Mani was taken to
the hospital so late and why the
doctors delayed informing the
police about the matter. The
police intimation note —
signed by clinical assistant
professor Dr Ramakrishnan
UK — states that Mani began
to suffer the symptoms
between 5 and 6 am on
Saturday morning, but he was
only brought to the hospital at
5 pm, nearly 12 hours later. He
was conscious at the time but
was bleeding internally and his
The police intimation report from
the hospital pointed out the
possibility of poisoning
blood pressure was falling. In
the next few hours, he was put
on ventilator support.
Poisoning incidents are
medico-legal cases and have to
be reported to the police, but
the force was only informed
about it a day after Mani had
been admitted. “The local
police had no clue about the
actor’s admission to the hospital prior to receiving the
hospital note. Subsequently, a
police team visited the hospital
to make further enquiries on
Sunday. However, by then his
condition had deteriorated. He
was declared dead by 8 pm and
his statement could not be
recorded,” said ACP Vijayan.
Kochi city DCP (Law and
Order) Arul RB Krishna said,
“As the doctors could not certify the cause of death, and as
the death was suspicious, the
case was transferred to the
Chalakudy police under the
Thrissur (Rural) Police, who
registered a case under Section
174 of the Criminal Procedure
Code.”
On Monday morning, a
team from the department of
forensic medicine and toxicology of Thrissur Medical
College conducted the autopsy
but could not ascertain the
cause of death. The viscera
have now been sent to Kerala
FSL at Kakkanad.
“The forensic surgeons pre-
Expertspeak
Rukmini Krishnamurthy, former director of the Maharashtra
forensic lab, said, “Beer usually does not have methanol
content in it, unlike country liquor, in which spurious
materials are added for an extra kick. Poisoning occurs only
when methanol exceeds the lethal dose, which if found in
beer, only raises suspicion.” Mumbai-based liver specialist Dr
Geeta Billa said, “Methanol poisoning from beer is unheard
of.” She added that Mani’s death could have been from a
complication of his liver ailment.
Mani Raman adopted the
stage name Kalabhavan
Mani, after the Kalabhavan
mimicry troupe with which
he began his career. He
began his film career
playing an auto driver in
the Malayalam film
Aksharam. He has starred in
over 200 films and won the
National Film Award in
1999 for Vasanthiyum
Lakshmiyum Pinne
Njaanum. His mortal
remains were laid to rest in
his hometown, as
politicians, celebrities and
fans thronged to get a last
glimpse of the actor.
served the viscera for chemical
analysis to rule out poisoning,
though his liver was bad, indicating that he indeed had a
liver ailment. We have formed
special teams to carry out an
in-depth probe,” said K
Karthick, DCP, Thrissur
(Rural) police, who also confirmed they had inspected the
actor’s outhouse and recovered
liquor bottles from there.
Liver ailment
The actor was diagnosed
with liver cirrhosis a few
years ago and was
undergoing treatment at
Amrita hospital. Deputy SP K
Sudarsanan, Thrissur
(administration), said, “We
have to record the
statements of all the treating
doctors and only then can
we come to any conclusion.”
Amrita Hospital’s medical
director, Dr Prem Nair said it
was a holiday and he
couldn’t access the case files
to answer mid-day’s query.
Tweet talk
Ranganathan Madhavan
@ActorMadhavan
Oh God.. Heart broken to hear about
a talented actor and ever smiling
awesome Human being KalaBavan
Mani. Such a loss sir. RIP.
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