Venkitaraman is the prime accused in a 2019 hit-and run case that killed the senior journalist KM Basheer.
Venkitaraman, when he was taking charge as District Collector of Alappuzha. He was soon removed from the post following public protests.(Supplied)
Bowing to intense pressure from the opposition Congress and the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government late on Monday, 1 August, removed controversial civil service officer Sriram Venkitaraman from the post of Alappuzha district collector, barely a week after he took charge.
Venkitaraman’s appointment as collector with magisterial powers and law-and-order management rights, despite being the prime accused in an infamous hit-and-run case that resulted in the killing of Malayalam journalist KM Basheer, had evoked large-scale resentment.
Journalists across the state organised protests under the KUWJ banner and burnt Venkitaraman’s effigy at several places. The Congress declared it would boycott his official functions and greeted him with black flags on the day he assumed charge.
The Kerala Muslim Jamaat too organised mammoth marches for three days in different towns and cities. It warned the government of severe repercussions if Venkitaraman was allowed to continue in the position.
According to the 1 August order, the officer will now take charge as general manager of the Civil Supplies Corporation.
On the night of 3 August, 2019, Venkitaraman’s friends had organised a cocktail party in his honour at a guest house for civil service officers in the tony Kowdiar area of Thiruvananthapuram.
After the party, Venkitaraman, along with a friend, Wafa Firoz, is said to have engaged in drunken driving. The speeding car lost control and hit the two-wheeler Basheer was returning home on, resulting in the death of the young journalist, who was working as bureau chief of the daily Siraj.
The accident and a botched police probe had evoked widespread resentment against the government, which allegedly took a tacit stand favouring Venkitaraman. Along with murder charges, he faces the charge of destroying evidence.
Though suspended from service after the incident, he was reinstated in March 2020, and held the post of joint secretary in the Department of Health and Social Justice, much to the public’s chagrin.
Though he obtained bail in the case in the First Class Magistrate Court in October 2020, the trial is on.
Venkitaraman took charge as Alappuzha collector from his wife and fellow IAS officer, Dr Renu Raj, after the latter was transferred to as Ernakulam collector.
Though he took charge, Venkitaraman stayed away from key meetings in Alappuzha, especially the one deciding matters relating to the district’s famous Nehru Boat Race, due to ranging public protests.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his LDF government found itself on the defensive as the issue invited large-scale public wrath.
V Krishna Teja, director of the SC/ST Development Department, has been appointed as the new Alappuzha district collector.
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