THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in the assembly that the doctor who attended to bureaucrat Sriram Venkataraman after the fatal car accident on August 3 that killed journalist KM Basheer had noted in the medical report that he smelt of alcohol.
He was elaborating on the note made by the medical officer at General Hospital where the IAS officer was taken immediately after the accident. However, the police who accompanied Sriram did not ask for a blood test. A blood test conducted 10 hours after the incident did not show traces of alcohol in his blood and it helped the IAS officer get bail.
He said the allegations against the role played by police and a private hospital to cover up the drunken driving, that resulted in the death of journalist KM Basheer on August 3, were under probe. There were eye-witness accounts that Sriram was behind the wheels and he was drunk at the time of accident. This was later confirmed by Wafa Firoze, who was a co-passenger in the car.