IAS officer held in accident case a disgrace to civil service:

Coming down on IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman, arrested for alleged drunken driving that caused the death of a journalist, Kerala Minister E P Jayarajan Monday said he was a "disgrace" to the civil service and should resign on his own.

He made the remarks at a condolence meeting organised by the media fraternity here in remembrance of K Mohammed Basheer, bureau chief of the Malayalam daily 'Siraj', who died on Saturday after the car driven by the IAS officer hit him.

"The government is not going to protect any culprits. We will not spare those who have attempted to help the accused. The IAS officer is a disgrace to the profession. He must accept his mistake and resign from the post," Jayarajan said.

State Power Minister M M Mani said the government will do everything possible to help Basheer's family.

On Sunday, PWD Minister G Sudhakaran had criticised IAS and IPS officials by saying there were many people like the arrested IAS officer in the civil service.

Venkitaraman, who was arrested on Saturday night nearly 17 hours after the accident that triggered an outrage, was on Monday suspended by the government.