THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police team probing the death of journalist KM Basheer informed the Thiruvananthapuram first class judicial magistrate court that it was not in possession of the CCTV footage demanded by the accused Sriram Venkataraman.
It also informed that the CCTV recording from the surveillance cameras installed on the stretch from Kowdiar to Museum junction on the day of accident was already submitted to the court as evidence and hence it would take time to hand it over to the accused.
Earlier, the court had asked the prosecution to submit the CCTV footages on Thursday. The accused had demanded the copies of footages and other documents though the investigation team had already filed a chargesheet against Sriram and his co-accused Wafa Najeem.
With the trial getting affected due to the delay in providing the copies, both Sriram and Wafa were granted bail in October. Sriram is accused of knocking down Basheer while he was driving the car allegedly under the influence of alcohol near Museum on August 3, 2019.
As per the findings in the charge sheet submitted by the crime branch, Sriram deliberately tried to destroy evidence in the case. The chargesheet mentioned that he was overspeeding - at over 100 kilometres per hour - when he hit the motorcycle of Basheer, the unit chief of a daily Siraj.
The chargesheet had also pointed out that the vehicle had dragged Basheer around 24.5 metres after the collision with scientific evidence proving that the car was driven by Sriram.
Details from over a hundred witnesses were recorded and 84 pieces of material evidence were cited. Wafa is accused of allowing Sriram to drive the car despite knowing that he was drunk. She has been charged with abetment of the crime.