T’puram: Two witnesses told a trial court on Monday that the bloodstained clothes worn by IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman on Aug 3, 2019 after his car rammed and killed journalist K M Basheer were taken to his civil services quarters in Kowdiar before he was shifted to a private hospital. Dr Anish Raj and IAS trainee Athul were examined as the 10th and 11th prosecution witnesses before the fourth additional sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram.Dr Raj said he reached the spot after the accident and later accompanied Venkitaraman. He said the bloodstained clothes worn by Venkitaraman were taken to his quarters in Kowdiar and Venkitaraman was given fresh clothes before being shifted from the general hospital to KIMS Hospital. Athul said he took the bloodstained shirt and blue jeans kept at the quarters on Aug 4, 2019 and handed them over to the police. The clothes were among the material evidence collected by the investigation team in the case.But the defence questioned them about the identification of the clothes produced in court. Both of them said they could not clearly recall whether the clothes shown in court were the ones they had seen or handed over to the police in 2019.The defence also pointed out the differences between their statements recorded by police during investigation and their depositions in court. The witnesses, who were associated with Venkitaraman, reportedly differed from their earlier police statements on certain aspects.The prosecution’s case is that Venkitaraman, who was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol, was behind the wheel of the car that rammed Basheer’s motorcycle on Museum-PMG Road early on Aug 3. Basheer (35), the chief of Siraj daily’s Thiruvananthapuram unit, was killed in the accident. The case had been pending trial for years, with the prosecution examining witnesses and producing material evidence to establish the circumstances leading to the crash and Venkitaraman’s condition at the time. The trial will continue at the fourth additional sessions court on Tuesday.
