Sreeram Venkitaraman
Basheer, the Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief of a Malayalam daily, was killed on Aug 3, 2019, after his motorcycle was hit by a car allegedly driven by Venkitaraman.
Accordingly, Jaseela approached the court challenging the home department’s order, alleging that it was contrary to the assurance given by the state govt before the court.
Kochi : The high court has stayed the trial in the 2019 road accident case involving IAS officer Sreeram Venkitaraman on a petition filed by the widow of journalist K M Basheer, the accident victim. Justice G Girish issued the interim order on a petition filed by Basheer’s widow Jaseela C, challenging a govt order dated Sept 17 rejecting her representation seeking the appointment of a special public prosecutor for the trial. The court adjourned the petition to Oct 27 for the state govt to obtain instructions. the court had also directed the additional sessions court – 4, Thiruvananthapuram , to defer the trial proceedings for a month, enabling the state to appoint the special public prosecutor While disposing of the petition.
The order was contrary to the submission made before the court in an earlier litigation, according to her.
Previously, the court had disposed of Jaseela’s plea seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor, based on the state govt’s submission that a decision had been taken to appoint A Santhosh Kumar but that a formal notification had not yet been issued.