Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed the state government’s plea seeking cancellation of the bail granted to IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman, who has been arrested for causing the death of a journalist while allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol.

The court observed there was no material evidence to show that Venkitaraman was drunk at the time of the accident.

It said police did not display professionalism while probing the case.

The court also pointed to the delay of around 10 hours in collecting the blood sample of the 32-year-old IAS officer to ascertain the level of alcohol.

The accident killed K.M. Basheer, the chief of bureau of Siraj, a Malayalam daily, who was heading home on his motorbike.