Kerala IAS Officer, Held in Accident Killing Journalist, Gets Bail

A probe into the incident has been initiated as allegations of the IAS officer being behind the wheels surfaced.

KM Basheer, was the Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief of Siraj newspaper.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday, 7 August, refused to stay a magistrate court order granting bail to suspended IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman, who was arrested for alleged drunken driving that caused the death of Kerala journalist KM Basheer.

Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan issued a notice to Venkitaraman on an appeal by the Kerala government, seeking to cancel his bail.

He was granted bail on Tuesday after his blood report samples was found negative for alcohol content.

In its appeal, the state government alleged that 32-year-old Venkitaraman misled police and tried to destroy evidence of his alcohol consumption, PTI reported.

The court sought an explanation from police on why they failed to collect the medical evidence from the accused on time and noted that the blood sample of Venkitaraman was collected nine hours after the incident.

What Happened?

The IAS officer was arrested hours after the accident took place on 3 August.

The car driven by Sriram rammed into Basheer’s bike in Thiruvananthapuram’s public office complex, a short distance away from the Museum police station at around 1 am on Saturday.

Sriram has been booked under Indian Penal Code Sections 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

The victim, 35-year-old KM Basheer, was the Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief of Malayalam daily Siraj newspaper.

The accident has now become a controversy after it was found that one of the occupants in the car was a Kerala cadre IAS officer, Sriram.

Immediately after the incident, Sriram had claimed that he was not behind the wheels of the car. He said his friend Wafa, to whom the car the belongs, was driving when the accident took place.

However, the police later confirmed that the IAS officer was on the wheels of the car that killed the journalist. Talking to The News Minute, Cantonment ACP Suneesh Babu said: “From the statements of the eyewitnesses, it is clear who the accused is. Looks like it was him (IAS officer) who had driven the car.”

Following the accident, Basheer was taken to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College hospital, however he was declared dead on arrival. Sriram, meanwhile, has sustained minor injuries and was admitted to the KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

Sriram is an officer from 2012 batch and a doctor by training. After returning from the US after spending a year in Harvard, he was posted as Director of Survey and land Records on 1 August. Sriram shot to fame in Kerala after he headed the anti-encroachment drive in Munnar in 2017, which caused a political storm in the state.

Sriram Venkitaraman(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Sriram Venkitaraman)

Talking to TNM, City Police Commissioner Dinendra Kashyap said all aspects of the accident are being looked into by the investigating officers. He also added that the police are examining whether the IAS was under the influence of alcohol.

Facebook Post Claims IAS Officer Was Drunk

D Dhanasumod, a man claiming to be an eyewitness to the crash, in a Facebook page on Saturday alleged that he saw a man in his 30’s coming out of the car after the accident.

“Around 12:55 in the night, when I saw people, police vehicles and a van crowded near the museum public office, I parked my cycle and went to see what was happening. There was a bike which stood leaning near the wall of the building. Suddenly I saw the man who was lying down. He was bleeding. The police were waiting for an ambulance as it was too risky to take him in the police jeep due to his critical condition,” he wrote.

He then went on to describe the man who came out of the car. “The man who got out of the car, looked like he was in his 30s, and could not place his legs firmly on the ground. He was heavily inebriated. The woman who was with him seemed petrified...The man was calling a lot of people on the phone. The ambulance had arrived by then and taken the victim. From first sight, I could see that his hand was broken and completely dislodged,” he wrote.

Kerala CM Offers Condolences

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to social media to express condolences.

“Basheer was notable among the journalists in the capital because of his pleasant behaviour and active work. I share the grief of the family members,” the chief minister added.

(With inputs from The News Minute and PTI)