CBI 5: The Brain

Story:

K. Madhu is the director and S. N. Swamy is the writer of the 2022 Indian Malayalam mystery thriller CBI 5: The Brain. Along with an ensemble cast, Mammootty plays CBI officer Sethurama Iyer again in the movie. It is the fifth movie in the CBI film series.

On May 1, 2022, the movie was released in theaters, and both reviewers and viewers gave it mixed reviews. Mammootty’s performance and the nostalgic moments were praised, but the other performances, screenplay, length, outdated narration, and climax drew criticism.  Nevertheless, it eventually achieved commercial success at the box office.

Aparna, an IPS trainee, leaves her home to attend a seminar for IPS trainees organized by the CBI. The program is hosted by two CBI officers, DSP Balagopal and Inspector Vinay, until they begin discussing a number of cases that the CBI has already dealt with. They talk about a specific case called the Basket Killings, which senior CBI investigator Sethurama Iyer successfully investigated.

The incident occurred in October 2012 when Abdul Samad, the home minister of Kerala state, perished on an aircraft while traveling from Delhi to Nedumbassery. Some people think his death was mysterious, while many think it was caused by natural reasons.When Samad’s physician Venu is also discovered dead under strange circumstances, suspicions grow. There are demonstrations calling for the government to launch an inquiry into Samad’s death. These protests are led by a journalist named Bhasuran, who is discovered hanged the next day.The following day, Josemon, a police officer, is also discovered to have been slain. The police are aware that a car struck and ran over him, killing him.After determining that these killings are connected, the police refer to them as Basket Killings.

IG K.C. Unnithan is opposed to giving the case to DYSP Sathyadas, a corrupt police officer who despises the CBI, especially Iyer, because of his corruption. When Unnithan brings up these issues with the DGP, he is told to wait and rejects his request. At last, Sathyadas comes to the conclusion that Sam, a sand trafficker, is connected to Josemon’s death. He detains Sam out of suspicion. In the meantime, Josemon’s family has filed a court petition to transfer the matter to the CBI. Adv. Pratibha, Sathyadas’ wife, is leading the lawsuit and appears to have personal motivations for supporting the petition.

The CBI filed a workload petition in court at the same time. Later, Unnithan asks Balagopal to reconsider this contentious ruling, remove the workload petition, and provide Josemon’s family with justice. At the CBI Headquarters in New Delhi, Balagopal and Iyer see the CBI Director, who chooses to revoke the workload petition. After the matter is subsequently turned over to the CBI, Iyer and his associates are summoned to the CBI office in Kerala by the Kerala government. Iyer discloses that Samad and the Chief Minister paid him a visit to discuss a young man named Mansoor, who was Samad’s relative and had joined a militant organization a few years prior.

They concentrate on Sam and discover that Sam and Adv. Pratibha are acquainted. When they question her, she demonstrates that she was not involved in the murders. After Sam escaped from a hospital previously while in detention, they discover him dead in a secluded location. The forensic reports show that he died from a heart attack, notwithstanding the CBI’s suspicion that his death was also a murder. They make the decision to question Bhasuran’s acquaintance and search his home. They discover evidence that suggests Mansoor may be the murderer, and Iyer and his group believe that Mansoor—who was Samad’s relative—may be involved.

Additionally, they had already heard this name from Dr. Venu’s driver and wife. Vinay discovers that Sandeep is connected to DYSP Vikram, a CBI official who was the victim of a murder attempt, after discovering a portrait that looks like one of the people he saw in the Delhi Airport CCTV footage. Along with DYSP Chacko, a longtime friend of both Iyer and Vikram, Iyer and his colleagues visit him.

A paralyzed Vikram tells Iyer that Sandeep’s true name is Paul Meyjo. Afterwards, they discover Meyjo in a secluded area next to a beach. They discover numerous pacemaker prototypes and notes explaining how to hack a pacemaker while interrogating him. When they question Meyjo about this, he explains that he created those to support his friend Dr. Venu’s assertion that a pacemaker cannot be externally hacked. Because there isn’t enough evidence, they had to let Meyjo go.

Afterwards, Sathyadas visits Iyer to tell him that he had observed lights emanating from Sam’s guesthouse, which was purportedly deserted. Iyer chooses to look into it and discovers that someone was there. Iyer speculates that Samad’s death was an accident and that Susan, a patient of Dr. Venu and the wife of renowned physician Dr. George Abraham, was the first target. Shortly before the CBI breaks into the house to save her, a priest-disguised Meyjo pays her a visit.

Meyjo makes an attempt to escape before being taken into custody and questioned. In his bible, they discover an article torn from a newspaper that included a picture of Susan. Iyer remains to interrogate Susan. Susan used to be Unnithan’s ex-wife, Ambika. It turns out that Meyjo assassinated Abdul Samad under Sam and Unnithan’s orders. Unnithan was highly suspicious of his wife and suffered from serious schizophrenia. She left him because of his constant abuse, but he was determined to get rid of her. Dr. Venu became suspicious of Meyjo when Samad was accidentally killed, therefore Sam and Meyjo intended to kill him. They executed Bhasuran for planning demonstrations to identify Samad’s true killers. Josemon, who went for a morning walk every day, entered Sam’s guesthouse through the front gates and discovered Unnithan and Sam conspiring.

Unnithan gave Sam the order to kill Josemon the very following day, and he then gave Meyjo instructions. He accomplished this by slamming his car into Josemon. When Iyer pays Unnithan a visit, he boasts that Iyer will never be able to prove he gave the order for Meyjo to kill. Iyer is first perplexed, but he quickly realizes that Unnithan’s home would have the newspaper from which Meyjo obtained the target’s picture.

He discovers it and now has tangible evidence that Meyjo and Unnithan met and talked about killing Susan. During the trial, Unnithan is taken into custody and subsequently passes away from a heart attack. When Iyer visits the prison at some point in the future, he finds Meyjo in his cell. Meyjo alerts him to the fact that Iyer is his next victim. Perplexed by his challenge, Iyer talks about Vikram and what happened to him before confidently leaving.