Kochi: The Kerala High Court has decided to retain the culpable homicide charges against IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman in the death of journalist KM Basheer in 2019.

The court found prima facie that Venkitaraman was speeding in an inebriated state at the time and that he tried to destroy evidence. The argument that the accused tried to dodge the medical examination cannot be turned down. There is no need for a person, who was sent to Medical College, to go to a private hospital unless he had the intention of evidence destruction.

Police's actions were also suspicious
The court pointed out certain mysterious circumstances. The doctor at the General Hospital, where Sriram was brought at first, had recorded that he could get the smell of liquor. But no examination was done there. He was referred to the Medical College despite not having any serious injuries.

The police allowing him to head there in a friend’s car too is suspicious. The court pointed out that the accused IAS officer is also a medical doctor.

The Sessions court verdict was on the basis of the absence of a medical examination report to determine the volume of alcohol intake. It’s difficult to invoke the charge of drunken driving without the test report.

But if there is, prima facie, other shreds of evidence that point to the accused driving the vehicle in an inebriated condition, then the ‘murder’ charges can’t be avoided in the name of an absence of a test report. Statements of witnesses and other pieces of documented evidence can be considered.

If one indulges in rash driving and overspeeding, knowing that the same is dangerous, and causes the death of another person, then murder charges will apply, the court observed.

The case
In 2019 journalist KM Basheer who was employed with Siraj daily was allegedly killed when a vehicle driven by Venkitaraman, ran over him at high speed, at Museum Junction in Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala.

It was alleged that Venkitaraman, who was accompanied by Wafa Firoz, was in an inebriated state, which led to the accident.

The doctors are said to have confirmed his inebriated state, however, later it was disclosed that there was an omission to conduct his blood test. The sample is said to have been collected only ten hours after the incident.

While Venkitaraman was suspended from service immediately following the incident, he was later reinstated as the District Collector of Alappuzha.

It was pursuant to several protests that he was later removed from the post, and is presently the General Manager of SupplyCo.