THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Facing criticism over the delay in taking action against IAS officer Sriram Venkataraman for speeding and dangerous driving that led to the death of journalist KM Basheer, the Motor Vehicles Department on Monday suspended the driving license of the officer for one year. However, the licence of Wafa Firoze, owner of the car that hit Basheer’s motorcycle and co-passenger, will not be suspended now. Sriram has been asked to submit his licence before the licensing authority in Thiruvananthapuram or the Joint Regional Transport Officer, Mattanchery in Kochi, who issued the licence.
The Regional Transport Officer in Thiruvananthapuram issued the order on Monday. The suspension period is between August 19, 2019 and August 18, 2020. Sriram can appeal the order before the Deputy Transport Commissioner (Southern region) within 30 days. Sriram drove the Volkswagen Vento car belonging to his friend Wafa, when it rammed Basheer’s motorcycle in front of the Public Office at Museum Road on August 3, killing the Siraj daily’s reporter.
A report by MVD found that the dangerous and careless driving led to the fatal accident. Yet, the department took 17 days to take action against the erring bureaucrat. The official explanation for the delay was that it was waiting for a response for its notice served on the accused.
The order issued on Monday mentioned that the accused did not respond to the notice issued under Sections 19 (1) (F) and 21 of the Motor Vehicles Act. The action came after the delay was pointed out to Transport Minister A K Saseendran who also said a probe would be ordered to find if the delay was deliberate.
Experts examine car T’Puram: Experts from Volkswagen examined the car driven by IAS officer Sriram Venkataraman on the day of the incident. A team of data retrieving experts arrived from Pune and examined the vehicle. It’s expected that they would be able to determine the speed at which Sriram was driving the car when it hit the journalist.
The car was examined in the presence of the special police team which is probing the case. Police sources said the experts will be examining the Event Data Recorder (EDR) in a bid to garner more information. The police source said data retrieved from the EDR could throw light into the speed, steering, braking, force of impact of accident and other such events.