Thiruvananthapuram: Sriram Venkitaraman and Wafa Firoz, the accused in the negligent driving that killed journalist K M Basheer last year, did not attend the court today. Thiruvananthapuram Judicial First Class Magistrate court had ordered both Sriram and Wafa to attend the court in person on 24 February. The lawyers of both the accused submitted request of leave instead. Charge sheet has been handed over to the court today.
The investigation team had earlier produced a charge sheet naming Sriram as the first accused and Wafa Firoz, who was with Sriram while the accident took place, as the second accused. Charge sheet mentioned the mishap as the deadly drunk-driving accident.
Both the accused were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (section 304), causing disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving false information (section 201) of the Indian Penal Code and for dangerous driving (section 184, 185, 188 of the Motor Vehicles Act).
K M Basheer died on the spot at midnight on August 3, 2019, when the car driven by Sriram Venkitaraman rammed Basheer’s bike near Museum Junction in Thiruvananthapuram.
