Could Alcohol Be Actor Kalabhavan Mani’s Killer?

Recently headlines went abuzz with news of Malayalam actor Kalabhavan Mani’s untimely death on Sunday at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences. The actor who was loved in the fraternity for his distinct acting style in over a 100 movies, was cremated with full state honours at his hometown Chalakudy, in the presence of fans from across Kerala, fellow artistes and family members.

But shockingly, following a routine postmortem, not a week after the sad demise of Mani the Thrissur police registered a case of unnatural death after traces of methyl alcohol were found in the actor’s body.

His family, friends and even police sources confirmed that the actor used to indulge in alcohol regularly. And on the night of this unfortunate incident, the star was drinking with his friends all of whom were further interrogated by authorities.

“They all mentioned a drinking party but could not explain the presence of methyl alcohol in his blood. Excise officials searched the outhouse to check if they had used spurious liquor,’’ a police source revealed.

What Is Methyl Alcohol (Methanol)?

Methanol is a toxic chemical, which also goes by the names of wood spirit or wood alcohol.

The chemical is poisonous to the central nervous system and may cause blindness, coma, and death. However, in small amounts, methanol is a naturally occurring compound found in normal, healthy human individuals. A study found a mean of 4.5 ppm in the exhaled breath of subjects.

It is unclear as to how the poisonous methyl alcohol wound up in Mani’s system as the actor’s manager revealed that the former consumed only beer. Experts confirmed that methanol poisoning has never been caused by beer and is unheard of.

Foul Play?

Not only methanol, but also the entire flow of events comes across as rather unusual. Kalabhavan Mani was not rushed to the hospital immediately; neither did the hospital inform the police in time.

According to the police intimation note signed by clinical assistant professor Dr Ramakrishnan: “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 blood pressure was falling. In the next few hours, he was put on ventilator support.”

Here’s the deal, 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. Basically, the local police didn’t know about the actor until they received the hospital note.

Do we smell foul play here?