CBI takes over probe into Kerala violinist, daughter death case
nNEWDELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation has taken over probe into the suspicious road accident death of famous violinist from Thiruvananthapuram Balabhaskar and his one and a half year old daughter Tejashwini in September 2018, in which his father has alleged that there were links with gold smuggling racket.
The agency has registered an FIR in the matter on Wednesday late night, seven months after it received a reference from Kerala government (in December 2019) to investigate the deaths.
Balabhaskar, his wife Lakshmi and daughter Tejaswini were returning from Thrissur to Thiruvananthapuram on September 25, 2018 in their Innova car, which was being driver by their driver Arjun K Narayan, when the car hit a tree on NH-66. The daughter died on the spot while Balabhaskar died a week later in hospital. Lakshmi survived the incident.
His father C C Unni wasn’t convinced with Kerala police probe and alleged that the suspects in the case had connections with gold smuggling racket and that there were transactions in the account of Balabhaskar after his death.
The DRI had also arrested few persons in 2018 in gold smuggling cases who knew Balabhaskar.
The Centre issued a notification on June 12 this year for a CBI probe after which the FIR has been registered by the central agency.
Several agencies including NIA, Customs and DRI are already investigating a larger conspiracy in Kerala gold smuggling scandal.
Bloggers have blogged about it. Instagrammers have instagrammed about it. Heritage-minded walking tours too would stop by for quick feasts and photo opportunities.
And now it is gone.
Hazi Shabrati Nihari Shop is history. The iconic eatery near Old Delhi’s Haveli Azam Khan was famous for its signature meat stew — it would be cooked overnight and served fresh in the early morning.
It has been replaced by a grocery that opened last Friday. The shop stays within the family, but the business has changed.
It all happened because of .... you guessed it—coronavirus pandemic!
“We remained shut during the long lockdown,” says Mohammad Shuaib Ilyas, the grandson of Hazi Shabrati, the late founder who set up the eatery in 1957. In his late 30s, the gentleman says that he realised the following truth during the traumatic lockdown: “The only shops that thrive in situations of emergency are the ones dealing with any of these four things: medicines, vegetables, dairy products and grocery.”
The eatery couldn’t survive the new conditions, Mr Ilyas says. “All our cooks left for their villages in UP and Bihar as soon as the roads reopened. There was no way we could have restarted the nihari cooking.”
Replace the eatery by a grocery was the wisest thing to do, he feels, while handing over a cake of Lifebuoy soap to a masked customer.
This afternoon, the grocery is still looking new, as crisp as newly starched clothes that will take some time to adapt to the wearer’s figure. The floor is neatly arranged with rows of sacks containing different varieties of rice. The walls are lined with metal racks, the kind public libraries use for stacking books. The shelves are packed with jams and ketchups, soaps and detergents, lentils and spice boxes. Truly, the world here has changed so swiftly. Just a few months back this was a busy kitchen with a huge brass cauldron, or degh, filled with piping hot nihari.
The degh would be half-buried into an earthen stove that was as old as the shop. A the city you should see
THE CENTRAL AGENCY HAS REGISTERED AN FIR IN THE MATTER ON WEDNESDAY LATE NIGHT