The Kerala government on Wednesday approached the Kerala High Court challenging the order of the Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions Court discharging Civil Services officer Sriram Venkitaraman from the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in a case relation to a road accident in 2019 in which journalist K.M. Basheer was killed.
The government submitted that the Sessions Court had exceeded its jurisdiction in holding that Sriram Venkitaraman did not drive the vehicle with either an intention to kill or with the knowledge that his act might result in the death of the journalist and also that the act of the officer was merely a rash and negligent act.
The government pointed out that immediately after the accident, he was taken to the General Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram where he had made all efforts to delay the treatment with a view to destroying evidence. The accused purposely delayed the collection of blood samples to dilute the alcohol content in his blood. It was borne out from the statement of the doctor at the General Hospital that the accused drove the vehicle after consuming alcohol and he drove the vehicle in a rash and negligent manner.
A conjoint reading of the final report and the statements of the witnesses prima facie proved the role of the officer in the killing of the journalist and that there were ingredients for charging him with the offence under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
