Thiruvananthapuram: Dr Sriram Venkitaraman discharged, advised 1-month rest

Thiruvananthapuram: Dr Sriram Venkitaraman, the physician-turned-bureaucrat charged with drink-driving and causing an accident that killed journalist K. M. Basheer, got discharged from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital on Monday evening after a medical board found his health condition satisfactory.

Doctors advised him a month's rest even as a police team was preparing to submit an affidavit to the High Court on Tuesday before it decides on his bail.

Saifuddin Haji, who heads the Thiruvananthapuram unit of Siraj daily where Mr Basheer worked, also moved the HC seeking to arraign suspended sub-inspector Jayaprakash as a defendant.

Dr Venkitaraman, admitted to the ICU of the MCH four days ago, was shifted to the step-down ICU and from there to a pay-ward.

Though doctors recommended his discharge by afternoon, he left only by 5:30 pm amid waiting contingent of television crews. But his friends brought the ambulance to the super-speciality block where they managed to evade them.

A senior police official said he sported a new look and was cleanly-shaven.

"He is having only slight pain due to the impact of the accident. If one falls from a swing, they will be having slight pain for the next few days," he told DC.

It is not known whether he had left for his home in Kochi accompanied by his father, a retired professor.

On Friday, the HC had reserved its verdict after his counsel told the court that the bureaucrat's injuries and car's damage were on the left, not on the driver's side.

The HC also criticised the police sharply for failing to follow due procedures soon after the accident.

The senior journalist died on August 3, after being hit by a speeding car and witnesses say Dr Venkitaraman was at the wheel, and he was drunk.

Basheer was taken to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, where he succumbed to his injuries, while he got admitted to KIMS Hospital after a preliminary check-up at the General Hospital.

The police waited almost nine hours before his blood samples were taken to determine the alcohol level, which tested negative.