Trial In 2019 Road Rage Case Against IAS Officer Sriram Venkitaraman To Remain Stayed: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on Monday said that in addition to stay on the operation of the order dropping culpable homicide charges against IAS officer Sreeram Venkitaraman in the 2019 rash driving case, the trial proceedings against him shall also remain stayed. 

"It is clarified that in addition to the operation of the Order passed in Crl. M.P. 2325/2022, the proceedings in the SC 595/2021 shall also be stayed," the Court directed. 

Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A. passed the order.

The Court had recently stayed the order dropping culpable homicide charges against Venkitaraman, for a period of 2 months. 

The State Government had approached the High Court against the Additional Sessions Court I, Trivandrum order dismissing the culpable homicide charges against Venkitaraman and his friend, Wafa Firoz, in the alleged drunk driving case related to the death of journalist K.M. Basheer in 2019.

The Sessions Court, while dropping the charges under Section 304 which provides punishment for culpable homicide and Section 201, which penalizes causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information, in October had however maintained that the other charges 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 would stand. Venkitaraman had argued that there was no evidence regarding him having driven the vehicle in a drunken state.

In the Criminal Revision Petition filed through the Additional Public Prosecutor, it has been averred that the statements of the witnesses had revealed that the accused was in an inebriated state at the time of the incident, and had been reluctant to give his blood sample with a view to destroy the evidence, and that he had made all effort in this regard to delay treatment when he was taken to the General Hospital on the day of the accident. 

The Prosecution has also said that the doctor at the General Hospital had asked the accused to consult a surgeon and had referred him to Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, however, he disregarded the same and went to KIMS Hospital Thiruvananthapuram without informing the police. It has also averred that the accused "purposely delayed" collection of his blood sample to dilute alcohol content in his blood, and the Court below had failed to consider the same.

The Case

In 2019, a journalist K.M. Basheer was allegedly killed when a vehicle driven by Venkitaraman, ran over him at high speed, at Museum Junction in Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala. It was alleged that Venkitaraman, who was accompanied by Firoz, was in an inebriated state, which led to the accident.

The doctors are said to have confirmed his inebriated state, however, later it was disclosed that there was an omission to conduct his blood test. The sample is said to have been collected only ten hours after the incident.

While Venkitaraman was suspended from service immediately following the incident, he was later reinstated as the District Collector of Alappuzha. It was pursuant to several protests that he was later removed from the post, and is presently the General Manager of SupplyCo.

Case Title: State of Kerala v. Sreeram Venkitaraman