Jolt to Kerala IAS officer as court refuses to discharge him in scribe's death

A sessions court in Kerala on Wednesday declined to discharge IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman from a case in which he was accused of driving a car in an inebriated condition and fatally knocking down a journalist in 2019 but, dropped the charge of culpable homicide against him.

The sessions court instead included the offence of causing death by negligence against the IAS officer and a similar order was passed with regard to co-accused Wafa Feroze in the case, the public prosecutor dealing with the matter said.

With these directions, the court disposed of the discharge pleas moved by the two of them.

The court, thereafter, sent the matter to a magisterial court for adjudication, the prosecutor said and added that the state would be going in appeal to the high court against the order.

Earlier Venkitaraman was booked under Sections 279 (rash driving on a public way) and 304 (culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code and damaging public property and Feroze was charged with abetting him in driving rashly.

Now, the sessions court dropped Section 304 and instead included section 304 A of IPC which deals with causing death due to negligence and provides for a punishment of maximum two years in jail or fine or both.

The prosecutor said the charge was dropped as the chemical analysis report of the IAS officer was negative for alcohol indicating he was not drunk at the time of the accident.

This assumes significance as Venkitaraman, a doctor himself, had allowed the police to collect his blood sample for examination nine hours after the accident and after first getting himself admitted to a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.

According to the chargesheet filed by police, the IAS officer was drunk and was behind the wheels in the over speeding car while returning from a private party on August 3, 2019 past midnight.

The car hit journalist KM Basheer, who was on his motorcycle, killing him on the spot.

Venkitaraman's arrest was recorded nearly 17 hours later.

The officer was shifted to the medical college hospital after Basheer's family and media personnel protested over the "five star treatment" being given to him at the private KIMS hospital.

He was suspended from service and his driving licence cancelled, but was reinstated in March 2020 and appointed as Joint Secretary of Health department.

Earlier this year, he was appointed as the District Collector of Alappuzha, but after criticism from various quarters against the same, he was removed from the post and appointed as the general manager of Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd.