KOCHI: In his recorded statement, the culprit in the smuggling case and Balabhaskar’s program coordinator, Prakash Thampi said that it was Arjun who drove the car when the accident happened. According to Thampi, Arjun told this while Balabhaskar was hospitalized but it’s unknown to him why Arjun changed his statement later. Thampi states that he had no contact with Arjun in the past three months. Prakash Thampi is in DRI custody in relation to gold smuggling.

Meanwhile, Prakash Thampi made it clear to the Crime Branch that he checked the CCTV footage at a juice shop in Kollam to check who drove the car. But nothing was evident. Thampi stated that he didn’t copy those footages. Thampi also said that he went with Balabhaskar to the Middle East for some programs, after which he got paid and there were no financial dealing between them. Balabhaskar and Vishnu are good friends, Prakash Thampi said. He also denied his part in gold smuggling.