Political scuffle is rising in the state of Kerala. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala in Kerala on Thursday raised his voice against the state government’s judgment to post IAS officer Dr. Sriram Venkitaraman to the fact-checking team of the government to reduce fake news. The IAS officer was recently designated as an executive council member of the fact check team led by the Public Relations Department of Kerala. The IAS officer had been delayed last year, after he was accused of drunken driving and causing the death of a Kerala journalist in August 2019. 

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He was returned back to his post this March, as the joint secretary of the health department. Giving details on the same to the media, Ramesh Chennithala urged the state government to reconsider the appointment of Sriram. "The government should immediately reconsider this appointment. The government has taken the job of protecting all those who have done wrong," Chennithala stated. The Kerala government had begun the fact check team to curtail fake news against the government and the team is headed by the Secretary of the Public Relations Department as its chairperson.

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According to sources, other IAS officers are also part of the governing council, in addition to IAS Sriram. The council has the power to take decisions in matters related to the working of the fact-checking team. Sriram is involved in the death case of journalist KM Basheer and is arrested under charges of culpable homicide for allegedly hitting Basheer, who was standing on the side of the road with his bike parked. Sriram has been summoned by the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Thiruvananthapuram on October 12 as part of the case, an order that the court had issued after he failed to appear before the court in three instances.

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