Kerala IAS officer Sriram Venkatraman, who was arrested on Saturday in connection with the death of a journalist in a road accident, has been remanded for 14 days. The officer, who is presently admitted at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram after he sustained minor injuries, will be moved to sub-jail once he is discharged.
35-year-old journalist KM Basheer was killed in the accident after the car driven by the IAS officer rammed Basheer's motorcycle, which was parked on the side lanes of Museum Road in Thiruvananthapuram at 1 am on Saturday morning. According to eyewitnesses, the IAS officer was in an inebriated state and was over-speeding, which led to the accident.
Sriram who is the Survey Director, was remanded after the magistrate came to KIMS hospital, where he is admitted, reports Manorama News.
As per reports, the remand report states that Sriram drove the car when the accident took place.
Sriram Venkitraman has been booked under sections 279 (Rash driving) and 304 (Culpable homicide amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
As per the latter, a person can get imprisonment for life or up to 10 years.
Severe lapses were reported following the incident from the part of police officers. Though according to the witnesses, Sriram was seen coming out from the driver’s seat of the car following the accident and was visibly drunk, the police did not conduct a blood test, which is the preliminary procedure done when somebody is found drunk when driving. The blood samples were taken after about 9 hours following the accident after criticisms were raised and widely reported in the media.
When TNM contacted the Commissioner of Police, Thiruvananthapuram, to ask about the alcohol level in Sriram's blood sample, he refused to reveal any details and said the report will be submitted before the court.
The police were also criticised for letting the woman passenger in the car to go home in a taxi, although the victim was dead.
KM Basheer, who was killed in the accident, was the Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief of Malayalam Daily Siraj. He is survived by wife Jaseela and two children. Basheer’s funeral was held on Saturday night at his hometown in Vadakara of Kozhikode district.