HERO TO ZERO

The appointment of Sriram Venkitraman, a 2012batch IAS officer accused of drunken driving and killing a journalist in 2019, as the Alappuzha district collector has the Kerala Opposition and journalists up in arms. They have demanded a review of the appointment as the trial is yet to begin. Sriram, now 35, had been suspened for six months but later reinstated as a joint secretary in the health department. He now needs to complete two years of service in this post for his next promotion. A post-graduate in medicine, Sriram had become a youth icon when as Devikulam sub-collector, he had taken on the land mafia and illegal encroachments in Idukki. How the mighty have fallen.