Sriram Venkitaraman was driving the car along with his female companion Wafa Feroze.

A charge sheet was filed in a local court on Saturday against an IAS officer for allegedly running over a journalist in Thiruvananthapuram, in an intoxicated state, in August last year.

Sriram Venkitaraman was driving the car along with his female companion Wafa Feroze, who has been charged for abetting the officer to drive the car rashly.

The speeding car hit journalist K M Basheer, who was on his motorcycle, killing him on the spot.

Sriram Venkitaraman, a doctor himself, allowed police to collect his blood sample for examination nine hours after the mishap, the charge sheet said.

His arrest was made nearly 17 hours later and he was shifted to a government hospital only after Mr Basheer's family and media personnel protested over the alleged "five star treatment" being given to him at a private hospital.

Appointed Survey Director by the state cabinet in August 2019, Sriram Venkitaraman was booked under Sections 279 (rash driving on a public way) and 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and damaging public property.

He was suspended from service and his driving licence was cancelled.

On Thursday, the state government extended his suspension by another 90 days.