KOLLAM: A new revelation came up before the crime branch in connection with the death of Balabhaskar. Shamnad, the owner of a juice shop from where Balabhaskar drank juice, came forward with the revelation. He revealed that Prakash Thampy, accused in the gold smuggling case and friend of Balabhaskar took the hard disc of the CCTV installed in his shop.

After having tender coconut from his shop in Pallimukku the previous night, Balabhaskar and his family continued their journey. Clippings of it were in the CCTV. Shamnad told crime branch that Prakash Thampy came to his shop and took the disc from the shop in the beginning stages of the probe. He came with the employees who installed the camera and took the hard disc. They later returned it back.

The disc was later produced in the court by crime branch DySP K Harish. In the wake of the new revelation, the disc was recovered from the court and sent for forensic examination. Whether the disc was tampered with or not will be known in the forensic examination.

Meantime, the owner of the juice shop later retracted his statement. He told media that he doesn’t know Prakash Thampy and nobody had taken his disc. He also stated that he had not given any statement to the crime branch.

Balabhaskar’s wife Lekshmy had stated that it was Arjun, who drove the car from Thrissur to Thiruvananthapuram. However, Arjun told police that it was Balabhaskar who drove the car. The crime branch decided to examine the clippings to get a clarity on who drove the vehicle on that day.