Kerala HC orders fresh probe into Balabhaskar’s death, says CBI failed to examine doubts

The Kerala High Court has ordered a fresh investigation by a senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer into the 2018 death of renowned violinist Balabhaskar, criticising the agency for conducting a “casual and lackadaisical” probe into 20 suspicious circumstances flagged by the court in an earlier order.

Justice G Girish, in an order dated October 9, set aside the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate Court’s December 23, 2025, decision to reject a plea for further investigation filed by Balabhaskar’s parents, K C Unni and B Santhakumari.

The court directed the CBI to entrust the investigation to an officer of “proven integrity” not below the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police. It also directed the agency to issue the necessary orders within two weeks of receiving a copy of the judgment.

“The course of procedure adopted by the Inspector of Police towards arriving at the aforesaid findings cannot be said to be one which behove the status of skill, tactics and expertise which are expected from a premier investigating agency like the CBI,” the court observed.

Balabhaskar died on October 2, 2018, from injuries sustained in a car accident on September 25 that year, near the CRPF camp at Pallippuram on the National Highway in Thiruvananthapuram. His one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Thejaswini Bala, died shortly after the accident. His wife, Lakshmi, survived, while the car was being driven by Arjun K Narayanan.

The case was initially investigated by the state police, followed by the Crime Branch, before being handed over to the CBI after suspicions were raised about a possible connection between the accident and a gold-smuggling network.

The CBI concluded that the incident was an accident and filed its final report in 2021. However, in an order dated October 5, 2023, the High Court directed further investigation into whether there was a conspiracy or a connection between gold-smuggling activities and the accident.

The court identified 20 suspicious circumstances that required further examination. These included the circumstances surrounding the family's sudden return from Thrissur on the night before the accident; the collection and subsequent possession of Balabhaskar's mobile phones; the role of Prakash Thampi, a close friend who was later arrested in a gold-smuggling case; and questions concerning the handling of evidence.

The court also flagged discrepancies in accounts of when Thampi collected Balabhaskar's belongings from the Mangalapuram police station, his decision to shift the injured violinist and his wife to a private hospital, and a phone call between Thampi and a person questioned in connection with gold smuggling on the night before the accident.

However, instead of assigning the further investigation to an officer of the same rank or higher than the ASP who had conducted the original probe, the CBI entrusted it to an Inspector. The Inspector examined 117 witnesses, including several who had been questioned earlier, and submitted a supplementary report reiterating the original findings.

The High Court found this approach fundamentally flawed, observing that the Inspector had effectively sought to protect the conclusions of his superior rather than independently examine the concerns raised by the court.

“What has been done by the Inspector in the subsequent investigation was a damage control exercise to save his superior officer who conducted the earlier investigation,” Justice Girish observed.

The court noted that the earlier investigating officer, who was examined as a witness during the supplementary investigation, maintained that the 20 circumstances identified by the High Court had already been examined and found to be without merit. The High Court said this response effectively discredited its directions for further investigation, while the subordinate officer was in no position to challenge the findings of his superior.

Justice Girish also criticised the Inspector for accepting explanations offered by witnesses whose earlier statements had raised suspicion, without adequately confronting them with the evidence collected.

The court reiterated its earlier criticism of the CBI's approach: “The investigating agency has accepted the statements of the witnesses, who could be under a scanner of doubt and against whom suspicions were raised by the parents of the deceased, as gospel truth, without confronting them with the materials collected.”

Among the issues highlighted in the latest order was Thampi's collection of Balabhaskar's mobile phone within hours of the accident and his retention of it for several months, until the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence recovered two phones during a search in May 2019. Balabhaskar’s parents had suspected that the phones could have been retained to tamper with evidence.

The court also criticised the failure to take the necessary steps for brain-mapping and lie-detector tests, despite mimicry artist Kalabhavan Soby George’s willingness to undergo them. Soby had claimed to have witnessed people associated with gold smuggling attacking the vehicle.

Soby's disclosure had prompted a change in the course of the investigation, although both the Crime Branch and the CBI subsequently concluded that the incident was an accident.

The High Court acknowledged that the passage of time might have resulted in the loss of evidence but held that this was not sufficient reason to reject the parents' demand for a competent investigation.

“The request of the parents of the deceased Musician to embark upon a further investigation by a competent officer, cannot be discarded even though the elapse of much time might have resulted in effacing of evidence,” the court said.