The body of well-known South Indian film actor Kalabhavan Mani, who died at a private hospital in Kochi, was cremated at the premises of his residence on Monday.

People thronged the government medical college hospital and his house to pay their last respects.

Hospital sources said post-mortem on the body was performed by a special team of doctors in the morning.

The decision to perform autopsy was taken after doctors at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, where he was treated for liver and kidney diseases, found substance of methanol in his blood samples. They had reported the matter to police yesterday itself.

Police have registered a case of unnatural death and constituted a special investigation team to probe the mystery behind the death, police sources said.

Mani (45) was brought to the private hospital on Saturday evening in a serious condition. He was put on ventilator support after his condition deteriorated last evening and died at 7.15 PM.

Born on January 1, 1971, Mani was an autorickshaw driver when he started his career as a mimicry artiste at the famous Cochin Kalabhavan, a centre for learning performing arts, in Kochi two decades ago.

He began his acting career in the Siby Malayil directed Malayalam film "Aksharam".