Thiruvananthapuram: IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman was granted bail in the accident case by the chief judicial magistrate court on Tuesday on the condition that he should not leave the state during the period of the bail and that he should cooperate with the investigation officer. The bail was issued on the surety of two persons.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked the police to appeal against the bail.
The court said the prosecution had failed to prove that the officer was drunk at the time of the accident in which a journalist K.M. Basheer was killed.
The court also rejected the police demand to take Sriram under custody for further probe. This followed the medical board report on his health condition.
The prosecution had argued that the officer was drunk. However, the court received the blood test report pointing out that the officer was not under the influence of liquor. Though the prosecution said they had strong statements from witnesses against the officer, the court dismissed these arguments as not credible enough. Earlier, mediapersons had met the chief minister demanding to plug the loopholes in the police inquiry.
Meanwhile, Saifudeen Haji, Thiruvananthap-uram unit chairman of ‘Siraj’ newspaper moved the court requesting to conduct a dopamine test on Sriram to find out whether he had used any drugs or psychotropic substances.
From the time of the accident, the officer had joined hands with the museum sub- inspector to destroy evidence, argued the advocate who appeared for the daily.
The counsel for the IAS officer said that since the blood test for alcohol had proved negative, the non-bailable sections invoked against him should be dropped. The petition had pointed out that the accused had destroyed valuable evidence by deliberately avoiding a blood test. His counsel said that section 304 invoked against him after dropping 304 A was purely on the basis of pressure from the media and political higher-ups. He said the drunken driving char-ges levelled against the officer will not stand in the light of blood sample result. n Continued on Pg 2
However, the prosecution argued that section 304 is non-bailable and granting bail to the accused will send a wrong message to society. The doctors who attended on him noted that he was smelling of alcohol when he was produced in the General Hospital.
As per the evidence, the car was at a high speed and that it hit the victim from the rear confirming the fault of the officer. He drove the car dangerously. In such circumstances he should not be granted bail, the prosecution argued.
The magistrate instructed the prosecution to produce the evidence at 2.30 p.m. The court granted bail after examining the case diary and blood test report.
Sriram’s counsel said he would cooperate with the investigating officials and that he will appear before the court whenever required.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala criticised the bail saying that it was issued after sabotaging the evidence due to high- level interference. The chief minister was made a mute witness in this, he said.
