A court in Kerala yesterday found a millionaire businessman guilty of murder for ramming his car into a security guard who was slow in opening the gate of his upscale township.
The Thrissur district additional sessions court, which convicted Mohamed Nisham, 38, heading a Rs50bn diversified businesses, will sentence him today.
Judge K P Sudheer found him guilty on nine counts, including the attack with an intention to kill. The trial began on October 26, last year and the arguments were completed last week.
Nisham, known as the beedi king, was arrested last January after he pinned the guard against a wall with his Hummer over a delay in opening the gate of his apartment complex.
The 50-year-old guard, Chandarabose, was left with multiple injuries and died after suffering a cardiac arrest in the hospital where he was receiving treatment.
“It was a short hearing and the court found the accused, Nisham, guilty of murder,” public prosecutor Udayabhanu said.
“We have argued for the maximum penalty - death,” said Udayabhanu.
“Since he also claims to be a wealthy businessman, we have asked for a compensation of Rs5 crore for the bereaved family,” said Udayabhanu.
The Kerala government had announced a government job for Chandrabose’s wife.
The court heard that Nisham pursued the guard into the complex with his SUV and squeezed him against a wall before getting out and beating him with an iron rod.
Of the 111 prosecution witnesses, 22 were examined and one witness, Nisham’s wife Amal, who initially admitted to the crime and later turned hostile, faces charges of perjury for deviating from her original statement recorded by a magistrate.
Some 65 documentary and 24 material evidence, including the Hummer, were presented before the court.
The prosecution argued that it was heinous murder while the defence insisted it was an accident.
Nisham’s lawyers told the court he had an extended family which dependent on him.
During the trial, key witness Anoop who claimed he had seen Nisham attacking Chandrabose also turned hostile.
He later admitted in the court that he changed his statement under duress and stuck to the original version.
He told the police Nisham knocked down his colleague, bundled him into the SUV and continued hitting him till his wife arrived with a gun.
He was dragged into a garage 700m away and continued the torture for what the prosecution said was punishment for the delay in opening the gate.
While rejecting Nisham’s bail plea, the Supreme Court described it as “an example of how the rich have become totally egocentric and megalomaniac.”
The top court also remarked: “Poverty matters. There is pride in poverty,” and asked the trial court to complete the process by January 31.
It is not the first time Nisham has made the headlines.
He faces a separate criminal case for allowing his nine-year-old son to drive a Ferrari in 2013, which caused outrage after he uploaded a video onto YouTube.
Nisham, owner of the Kings Group of Companies, made his fortune from beedis and also owns hotel and jewellery businesses in the Middle East.
He reportedly has a passion for luxury cars and owns a large fleet of them.
Nisham: guilty of murder
