Vinod Thomas, an actor with the Malayalam film industry, was found dead inside a car parked in the premises of a hotel at Pampady in Kottayam on Saturday.
Preliminary investigations attributed the death to the inhaling of carbon monoxide, which might have leaked from the air conditioner of the stationary car. A verification of the CCTV visuals suggested that the 45-year-old actor reached the hotel around 11.45 a.m. On finding him lying unconscious inside the vehicle, the police was alerted . The police team broke open the car’s window and rushed him to a hospital nearby, though to no avail.
“The person was stuck inside the car for more than two hours and the air conditioner in the vehicle was on when we took him out,’’ said an official.
The police are awaiting a final report of the post-mortem examination to confirm the cause of death. The Pampady police have booked a case for unnatural death. A probe is on to ascertain how the poisonous gas made its way into the car.
The actor, a native of Meenadom near here, had played notable roles in a handful of Malayalam movies including Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Natholi Oru Cheriya Meenalla, Kuri, Happy Wedding and June and so on.
