Hours after the death of noted Kerala lyricist Anil Panachooran, the Kayamkulam police in Alappuzha district on Monday registered a case of unnatural death. Though the family has not raised any suspicions, the case has been registered based on the family’s request to find the exact cause of death.
Anil Panachooran died on Sunday evening at the KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. A case has been registered under section 174 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The section is invoked when reasonable suspicion is raised in the death of a person.A post mortem can be done on the dead body only if an FIR is filed.
The 55-year-old lyricist and poet has penned scores of movie songs, most of which were hits including the viral sensation in 2017, 'Endammede Jimmiki Kammal’.
“The case under this section is filed when a person doesn’t die of age related ailments so that an autopsy can be done,” an official from the police station told TNM.
A team of police officials have left for KIMS hospital where the death happened and where the body is currently kept. The post mortem will be conducted at the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram after the inquest procedure by the police is over. However, the police are not clear if he recovered from COVID when he was shifted to the hospital on Sunday morning. “He was COVID positive as per what his wife said. We are not clear if he was still COVID positive,” the police said.
Anil Panachooran’s brother-in-law Anil Gopalan told TNM that they have no suspicions of anything mischievous. “We don't suspect anything mischievous. He went to the temple in the morning, collapsed there and was shifted to a hospital at Karunagappally where he tested COVID-19 positive. He was then shifted to KIMS, we want an autopsy only to ascertain the cause of death.”