Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala journalist Basheer was killed in a car-bike accident on Saturday in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. IAS officer, survey director Sriram Venkitaraman was allegedly travelling in the overspeeding car and rammed into Basheer’s bike.

Meanwhile, the city police deputy commissioner Kori Sanjaykumar Gurudin registered a case and started an investigation to identify who was behind the wheels during the accident. Sources say, an auto driver has said that the IAS officer was behind the wheels during the accident. The auto driver added that the IAS officer came out of the car after the accident and he was in an inebriated state. 

Reports say Venkataraman was admitted to a government general hospital and his blood samples were not collected for examination, even after the doctors claimed that he was under the influence of alcohol.

Venkitaraman had grabbed headlines for his hard work and diligence with respect to his job. Venkittaram was strictly against encroachments and had reclaimed some of the properties, and the government was upset with this. This led to his transfer, but there were reports that he was assigned a new role as part of the promotion. 

The government had faced criticisms for transferring the sub collector, who took stern action again encroachments in Munnar. Following this, the government, including the chief minister, said that he was promoted and transferred and it was not part of any revenge.