The Kerala government appealed to the High Court (HC) on Wednesday against a lower court’s decision to dismiss a culpable homicide charge against former (suspended) IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman and his friend Wafa Firoze in the 2019 alleged drunk driving case in which journalist K M Basheer was killed.
In October of this year, a Thiruvananthapuram sessions court dismissed culpable homicide charges against both, but upheld other charges under sections 304 A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of the IPC, as well as section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act (reckless driving).
The lower court ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prove the officer was drunk at the time of the August 3, 2019, accident that killed a young journalist.
Officer Venkitaraman is the first accused in the case, and his friend is the second. Venkitaraman was suspended from service shortly after the incident. He is the general manager of the state civil supplies corporation at the moment.
According to the government’s plea, the officer allegedly delayed his treatment and blood tests after being rushed to the state capital’s general hospital shortly after the accident. The officer was later admitted to a private hospital.
In their statements, witnesses to the accident stated that the accused officer was inebriated at the time of the incident but purposefully delayed his medical test. According to the plea, his blood sample was taken 10 hours after the accident.
‘Statements of witnesses in unequivocal terms stated that the first accused was in an inebriated state. The officer, being a qualified doctor and civil servant, was aware of the consequences and hence delayed further tests following which the session court proceeded with the trial of the accused under section 304 of the IPC,’ the government contended in its plea.
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