Kerala IAS officer shifted to govt hospital a day after arrest

Kerala IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman, arrested after the car driven by him fatally knocked down a journalist, was on Sunday shifted to the "remand cell" in the Government Medical College Hospital here from a private health-care facility, police said.

Amid tight security and high drama, Venkitaraman, who got himself admitted to the private hospital soon after the accident on Saturday, was brought out in a stretcher with a face mask and shifted to the medical college hospital after being produced before a magistrate.

The 33-year-old officerwas seen lying motionless on the stretcher with his spectacles on.

The IAS officer was shifted to the government hospital after charges that "five star treatment" was being given to him in the private hospital, despite being remanded to judicial custody.

Venkitaraman had allegedly driven the car in an intoxicated state and knocked down K Mohammed Basheer (35), Thiruvananthapuram Bureau Chief of Malayalam daily "Siraj" while he was riding a motorcycle in the early hours of Saturday.