Kerala High Court (Creative Commons)
The government of Kerala has approached the high court against a sessions court order that dropped the charge of culpable homicide against controversial IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman and his friend Wafa Firoz for allegedly driving under the influence and causing the death of journalist KM Basheer.
The car, which Venkitaraman was driving allegedly after consuming alcohol, went out of control and fatally mowed down the journalist returning home on his two-wheeler in the early hours of 3 August 2019.
The Additional Sessions Court dropping the culpable homicide charge evoked widespread resentment across Kerala, and the journalists’ community accused the government and investigators of soft-pedalling the case. The government approached the high court on Wednesday, 23 November, under immense public pressure.
While dismissing the culpable homicide charge (IPC Section 304) and Section 201 (causing the disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving false information), the sessions court had on 19 October upheld charges registered under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash and negligent driving) of the IPC and Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act against Venkitaraman and Firoz.
Venkitaraman argued in the lower court that there was no evidence supporting the prosecution case that he had driven the car under the influence of alcohol.
Basheer, the Bureau Chief of Siraj daily, was returning home after a meeting with management representatives when the speeding car crashed into him and the compound wall of the Public Office near the Museum police station.
Journalist KM Basheer. (Supplied)
The government official and his friend were returning from a party at the local club of IAS officers. Firoz claimed that she was at her home when Venkitaraman rang her up and asked for a lift.
In the Criminal Revision Petition filed through the Additional Public Prosecutor, the state government invited the high court’s attention to witnesses’ statements that the two accused were inebriated when the incident occurred.
The petition also said there was proof to show that Venkitaraman had refused to provide his blood for a laboratory test allegedly to destroy evidence. The test was to check the presence of alcohol in the blood.
His refusal to get admitted to the Government Medical College hospital for treatment after the incident and the eagerness he showed to get treated at a private hospital where his friends worked were detailed in the petition.
He went to KIMS Hospital, though a doctor at the Government General Hospital had referred him to the Medical College Hospital.
The prosecutor said in his petition that Venkitaraman had “purposely delayed” the collection of his blood sample, allowing the alcohol to dilute and that the lower court failed to consider it.
“The statements of witnesses, in unequivocal terms, stated that the 1st accused was in an inebriated state. Being a qualified doctor and a civil servant, he is well aware of the natural consequences,” the revision petition said.
It further argued that if the act was done with “the knowledge of the dangerous consequences” the case would fall under Section 304 IPC.
“Knowledge is the awareness of the person concerned about the consequences of his omission or commission, indicating his state of mind. There may be knowledge of likely consequences without any intention. Hence, the court below ought to have proceeded with the trial of the accused under Section 304 IPC,” the petition added.
The prosecution also claimed that the lower court had exceeded its jurisdiction in exercising its power of discharge and acted beyond the scope of Section 227 CrPC.
On 3 August 2019, Venkitaraman’s friends organised a cocktail party in his honour at a guest house for IAS officers in the tony Kowdiar area. After the party, Venkitaraman and Firoz drove off in the latter’s Volkswagen Vento, allegedly drunk.
Basheer was on his way home when their speeding car spun out of control and killed him. It was reported that Firoz had initially told that she was at the wheels, which was disputed by eyewitnesses.
The incident and the subsequent police probe led to widespread resentment against the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, which allegedly took a stand favouring Venkitaraman. The charge sheet against him listed 100 witnesses and submitted 75 items of evidence.
The journalists union and Basheer’s family accused the government of conducting a botched probe.
Though suspended from service after the incident, he was reinstated as the joint secretary of the Department of Health and Social Justice in March 2020 despite a public outcry against the move.
His recent appointment as district collector of Alappuzha invited massive criticism, and within a week, he was transferred and appointed as head of the Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation in Ernakulam.
When reports alleged that Venkitaraman was destroying evidence, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the government would not let him go scot-free. He said the rule of the law would prevail, and Basheer would get justice.
On his part, Venkitaraman maintained that he was suffering from retrograde amnesia — a form of memory loss.
