Four to undergo lie detector test in musician Balabhaskar’s death

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Four people agreed to appear for a lie detector test after the CBI, which took over the probe into the death of violinist musician Balabhaskar in a road accident, sought it.

The four intimated their willingness to the Chief Judicial Magistrate court here, which had sought their concurrence for the test.

The four include Arjun, the driver of the car which met with an accident in the early hours of September 25, 2018, on the outskirts of the capital city.

The others include popular stage artiste Kalabhavan Soby George, who passed through the spot soon after the accident, the manager of the music troupe of the musician - Vishnu Somasundaram and friend Prakash Thampy.

The test will be conducted here.

It was 22 months after the death of Balabhaskar that the CBI took up the probe, for which an FIR has now been lodged by the agency.

The government sought a CBI probe in December last year at the request of Balabhaskar's father.

Balabhaskar, 40, was travelling with his wife and two-year-old daughter from Thrissur to the state capital, when their car met with an accident.

While the daughter died on the spot, Balabhaskar passed away on October 2, 2018. His wife and driver escaped with injuries.

Soon after the incident, doubts surfaced about who was driving the car at the time of the accident after some reports said it was driven by the driver and some others mentioned that it was driven by the musician himself.

Incidentally, the first doubts surfaced a few days later when George said it was not an accident, as he noticed 'certain things' at the accident site while passing through the spot soon after.

It was the musician's father C K Unni, who first voiced doubts about the Crime Branch probe. He felt the investigation lacked conviction as despite their requests, a few things were not being looked into by the probe team.