THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police's fingerprint bureau has found that the fingerprints collected from the seat belt in the driver's seat of the car that mowed down Malayalam journalist K M Basheer were that of IAS officer Sriram Venkataraman.
The fingerprints recovered from the seat belt matched the ones collected from the officer during his hospital stay. His fingerprints were also found in the metal clip of the seat belt. The fingerprints of Wafa Firoze, who had accompanied Sriram, were found on the shotgun seat.
However, the testing agency has informed the investigators that the fingerprints collected from the steering were not clear.
Sriram had earlier in his statement to the police said he was driving the car when the accident occurred. Wafa too had given a similar statement to the police.
The investigators felt the fingerprint reports will be technical evidence that could come in handy during the trial.