On Saturday morning, 3rd of August 2019, a severe accident took place between a car and a motorcycle at 1am at just a few metres away from the museum public office in Thiruvananthapuram. Sriram Venkitraman, who is the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Kerala, was travelling in a car while he was fully drunk. As he lost his conscience, he hit the car with a motorcycle of a 35-year-old journalist of Kerala, KM Basheer. The drastic accident resulted into the death of journalist due to which the IAS officer has been arrested under Section 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way) and Section 304 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the initial reports, a female friend of the IAS officer named Wafa, was the driver of the car. But, as per the report of the preliminary investigation which was carried out by the police officers, the IAS officer himself was driving the car. Deputy Police Commissioner Kori Sanjaykumar Gurudin said, “According to eyewitnesses and as per evidence collected, it is confirmed that Venkataraman was driving the car in a drunken state.” Even the witnesses had said that they had seen Sriram driving the car.
The auto drivers who saw the accident told that Sriram himself got out of the car, picked up the journalist from his bike and placed him on the floor.
The accident caused minor injuries to Sriram and he was admitted to the KIMS hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. The Thiruvananthapuram police, despite having the rights given by law, did not collect the officer’s blood sample due to which they are being criticized a lot. Moreover, Sriram’s female friend was allowed to go home despite the accident leading to the death of the victim.
However, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) has demanded a proper and truthful investigation in the case to bring the guilty to the records.
