Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Police have confirmed that IAS officer, survey director Sriram Venkitaraman was driving the car when the
accident took place. A Kerala journalist KM Baseer was killed in a car-bike accident on Saturday (August 3) in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram. 

The deceased was identified as 35-year-old Basheer, who was working as Thiruvananthapuram unit chief of Siraj newspaper. Baseer was survived by wife Jaseela and children Janna and Asmi.

Also read: IAS officer who fought against encroachments now in trouble after death of Kerala journalist

Co-traveller Wafa Firoz, who was with IAS officer during the accident, issued a statement to the police that Venkitaraman was driving the car during the crash. She added that she drove the car till Kawadiyar and that Venkitaraman drove the car.

But at the same time, Venkitaraman had stated that Wafa was at the wheels when the accident happened. 

The Kerala Police have also collected the blood sample from Venkitaraman. It is reported that Venkitaraman was drunk when the accident occurred. 

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 that 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.