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Kerala police file charge sheet against IAS officer who ran over journalist
Journalist KM Basheer who was the bureau chief of a Malayalam daily died on the spot on August 2019.
The Kerala police filed a charge sheet against IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman accusing him of knocking down journalist KM Basheer while driving in a drunken state in August 2019 in a court in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday .
Journalist KM Basheer who was the bureau chief of a Malayalam daily died on the spot. The charge-sheet has arraigned the 33-year-old IAS officer as the first accused and his fellow traveller Wafa Firoze as the second accused. The SIT which probed the case said that there are enough material evidence along with 100 witnesses in the 70-page charge sheet that it filed before the judicial first class magistrate.
Journalists had decried the move to shield the 33-year old IAS officer when state chief secretary Tom Jose had recommended his reinstatement saying the charge sheet was not filed last week.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had extended his suspension for three more months and gave strict instructions to the SIT to file it at the earliest.
The victim’s relatives and journalists said there were many attempts to weaken the case and his blood was taken after eight hours when they threatened a sit-in before the police commissioner’s office. The case was registered 17 hours after the incident had occurred.
Venkitaraman was arrested after three days and even managed to get a bail.
Sriram Venkitaraman became popular in the state following his crusade against land encroachers in hill destination Munnar two years back during his stint as the Devikulam sub-collector.
Known to be gallant, Venkitaraman’s image took a beating after the incident. He was ranked second in the 2013 civil service examinations.
