The Congress on Monday staged a sit-in before the Alappuzha collectorate in Kerala, protesting the appointment of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Sriram Venkitaraman as the district collector.
Venkitaraman is accused in a late-night road accident case, which claimed the life of a young journalist here in August 2019. Journalist K M Basheer, the reporter of a local daily, was killed on the spot after the car allegedly driven by Venkitaraman hit his motorcycle. According to people familiar with developments, it was alleged that Venkitaraman was inebriated, but later in the FIR, it was shown that his woman accomplice was on the wheels.
“The person in question is an accused in a murder case, and he is yet to be exonerated. His appointment in a magisterial position is bizarre. If the government was firm, he should have been appointed in some other positions,” said senior party leader Ramesh Chennithala.
All India Congress Committee general secretary K C Venugopal, who represented Alappuzha in assembly and the Parliament in the past, also decried the appointment. “It is a challenge to people of Alappuzha,” he said.
The Alappuzha Congress district committee has decided to boycott him and stage a protest outside the collectorate till he is shifted.
The Kerala Union of Working Journalists also questioned his appointment.
However, the state government maintained that it was a usual posting, and he cannot be singled out just because of the case. “It is not at all an issue,” said Communist Party of India secretary Kanam Rajendran, adding, “He is only an accused now”.