Sriram Venkitaraman, the IAS officer who is an accused in the death of journalist K.M. Basheer in a drunk-driving-related road accident in 2019, got exemptions that even P.T. Chacko, a Kerala Minister over six decades ago, did not get, Minister for Health K. Muraleedharan has said.

He was delivering the keynote address at an event organised by the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) to remember Basheer on Monday.

Basheer, the Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief of Malayalam daily Siraj, was killed on August 3, 2019, after his motorcycle was knocked down by a car allegedly driven by Mr. Venkitaraman, who is currently serving as the Director of the Agriculture Development and Farmers’ Welfare department.

(Chacko, Home Minister in the R. Sankar Ministry, was forced to resign after he was found travelling to Peechi with a woman party worker on December 8, 1963. His resignation, in early 1964, had paved the way for the formation of the Kerala Congress.)

Mr. Muraleedharan said the United Democratic Front (UDF) government would stand with Basheer’s family. Had Basheer been alive, he would have become one of the best reporters in the State.

It was a matter of concern that despite the alertness of mediapersons and society, attempts were made to sabotage the case. A decision on the demand for appointment of a special public prosecutor would be taken on the basis of a Kerala High Court ruling, the Minister said.

KUWJ district unit president Schiller Stephen presided over the function.