Kerala High Court orders further CBI investigation into violinist Balabhaskar's death by an officer not below Additional SP rank

9 October 2026

Justice G. Girish of the Kerala High Court has ordered further investigation into the death of violinist Balabhaskar and directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to entrust it to an officer of proven integrity not below the rank of Additional Superintendent of Police. The order came on Criminal Revision Petition No. 214 of 2026, K. C. Unni and another against the State of Kerala and others, reported as 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 568. The musician was in a car accident on September 25, 2018 while the family was returning from a temple in Thrissur. His one-and-a-half year old daughter died at the spot and Balabhaskar died a week later. The CBI took over the investigation on July 27, 2020 and an Additional Superintendent of Police concluded it was an accident. In 2022 a coordinate bench of the High Court listed twenty suspicious circumstances and ordered further investigation, but the CBI assigned that work to an Inspector, who was junior to the earlier investigating officer and reached the same conclusions. The Court described the handling as casual and lackadaisical and held that the subsequent investigation was against the purpose of Section 173(8) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.