THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Veteran violinist B Sasikumar, the uncle and guru of the late violinist Balabhaskar, has spoken about his doubts on his nephew’s death.

In an interview given to Kerala Kaumudi, Sasikumar said that Vishnu, who has been arrested in gold smuggling case, had rented out Balu’s flat in Thiruvananthapuram for Rs 25000/month, without his permission. Vishnu was the caretaker of the flat. This had irked Balu and he had a run-in with Vishnu, following which the latter had to vacate the tenants of the flat. After this incident, Vishnu had developed a grudge against Balu.

"Besides this, Vishnu had tried to borrow Rs 20 lakh from Balu in order to start a Chapati shop in the Gulf. Balu had financial dealings with Vishnu, another gold smuggling case accused Prakash Thampi and Punthottam group. This is why we have doubts about Balu’s death,” he told Kerala Kaumudi.