Kerala journalist killed after IAS officer’s car rams his bike

The bureau chief of Malayalam daily Siraj, K Muhamed Basheer (35), was killed in a road accident in Thiruvananthapuram in the early hours of Saturday after a speeding car hit his motor bike. State Survey director Sreeram Venkataraman was in the car when the accident took place, police said.

Police said both occupants of the vehicle, including the IAS officer, were in an inebriated condition and the car was cruising at a high speed. The journalist died on the spot. Later, Venkataraman told the police that his friend Fava Phiroze was driving the car when the accident took place. The vehicle was registered in her name. However some of the witnesses said the IAS officer was driving the car.

Venkataraman, a young IAS officer, was in the news two years ago when he carried out a massive demolition drive in a hill resort at Munnar. He was abruptly transferred after he pulled down a cross allegedly installed by a church at a public place. A second rank holder in 2013 civil services examination, he began his career as a sub collector in Idukki. Basheer is survived by his wife and two minor children.