Kerala Muslim Jama'ath alleges CM, Chief Secretary intervened to stall Special Prosecutor appointment in K M Basheer death case

Kozhikode: The Kerala Muslim Jama'ath, the political outfit of the AP faction of Sunnis, on Friday came up with serious allegations that Chief Minister V D Satheeshan and Chief Secretary intervened to stall the appointment of a Special Public Prosecutor in the 2019 rash driving case involving IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman, in which journalist K M Basheer was killed.

Addressing the media, A Saifudheen Haji, state vice-president of the organisation and a complainant in the case, alleged that the Chief Minister had personally called for and rejected a file concerning the Home Department's decision to appoint a Special Public Prosecutor.

According to Haji, the file seeking the appointment of advocate A Santhosh Kumar as Special Public Prosecutor, based on a request from Basheer's widow C Jaseela, was called for by the Chief Secretary from the Home Department and kept pending for nearly one-and-a-half months before the request was ultimately rejected.

The allegation comes a day after the Kerala High Court stayed further proceedings in the criminal trial following a petition filed by Jaseela challenging the government's decision to reject her request for the appointment of Santhosh Kumar as Special Public Prosecutor.

Justice G Girish granted the interim stay on Jaseela's plea. She has sought the quashing of the government order rejecting her request and a direction to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, to appoint Santhosh Kumar as Special Public Prosecutor.

Basheer, then Bureau Chief of Siraj Daily, was allegedly knocked down by a car driven by Venkitaraman at Museum Junction in Thiruvananthapuram in August 2019. Venkitaraman is the first accused in the case.

Haji alleged that the government had earlier informed the High Court that it had decided to appoint Santhosh Kumar as Special Public Prosecutor. The court had subsequently directed that proceedings before the Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions Court-IV be kept in abeyance until the government issued the appointment order. However, the government later withdrew from the decision, with an order issued on September 17 rejecting the appointment, Haji alleged.

He further alleged that Venkitaraman's attempts to delay the trial were being aided by the government's position and claimed that the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary had intervened on behalf of an "IAS lobby". He also alleged that the Home Minister was "powerless" in the matter.

"Even after seven years, the government's position amounts to supporting attempts by the accused to delay and derail the trial," Haji said.

Haji described the government's decision to reverse the proposed appointment as a "betrayal" of Basheer's family and demanded that the decision be corrected. He said the Kerala Muslim Jamaath would consider further protests if the government failed to change its position, adding that Basheer's widow, children and elderly mother could also join protests if necessary.
(With LiveLaw inputs)