Dhinesh Kallungal By

THRISSUR: The tales of underworld dons in Mumbai have always inspired filmmakers and writers. However, the story of controversial millionaire and murder accused Mohammed Nisham from Kerala filled with crime and corruption is no less than a movie.

Nisham shot to fame recently, earning the nick name ‘Ferrari dada’ after he was booked in April 2013 for letting his nine-year-old son drive a Ferrari owned by him. However, he turned out to be a real villain in the minds of people on the midnight of January 29, when he fatally knocked down a security guard of a posh apartment complex in Thrissur by his Hummer SUV when the guard delayed in opening the gate for him.

After a hue and cry over the incident, the police were forced to go after his history and past crimes in order to detain him for quite some time under the police custody. As many as 16 cases were registered against him in Kerala and neighbouring states in the last few years which include murder, rape, murder attempt, cyber crimes and financial cheating.

In 2013, he was also arrested for manhandling and misbehaving with a woman sub-inspector on duty in Thrissur during a vehicle check-up in which he locked the cop inside his Rolls Royce. However, he managed to go scot-free after the initial proceedings at the local police station. There is also a rape case filed by a Kannada film actress against the accused.

Many things came into light when the police searched for criminal track records to detain him under the Kerala Anti-social Activities Prevention Act (KAAPA). Not only the police, the Income Tax Department was also rather slow in its probe against Nisham. Though the Income Tax (Investigation Wing) has brought business magnets and industrialists under the scanner as part of its efforts to crack down on tax evaders in business, they failed to notice the rise of the bidi tycoon from Thrissur.

It was only after the murder of security guard Chandrabose, the I-T department has begun a formal investigation against his financial transactions and source of income. Though the police have collected all the details of Nisham, who is the managing director of King Beedi Co and a prominent tobacco supplier, including the details of his fleet which includes Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Aston Martin, Road Ranger, Ferrari and Jaguar etc, the I-T department was dragging its feet in launching an investigation against his source of income, despite having substantial material to initiate action against him.

Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), Kochi P R Ravikumar told The Sunday Standard, “Though we have launched an investigation into his source of income and financial dealings, at least two more months will take to assess and verify his entire gamut of financial dealings and transactions.” It is estimated that his annual turnover from the tobacco dealings and real estate transactions will come to around Rs 1,600 crore. But his dealings mostly are benami transactions and the most of the luxury cars he owns are still under benami names.

Nisham also enjoys a considerable influence on the corridors of power. The ruling front’s official chief whip in the Cabinet P C George made a startling disclosure a few days ago that the Kerala DGP (law and order) K S Balasubramaniam tried to shield Nisham. He had also handed over CDs of recorded conversations between a former DIG and the city police commissioner who was in charge of the investigation to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithal, to expose him. But no action was taken on anyone.

The police were also rather slow in detaining him under preventive custody as per the provisions of KAAPA and the police submitted the file asking to invoke Kaapa against him only 31 days after the DIG announced his decision to slap KAAPA on him. Besides, former Thrissur city police commissioner, Jacob Job, who was in charge of the investigation in the beginning, was placed under suspension after he was found guilty of holding a secret meeting with the murder accused to strike a deal to conceal his gun and save his wife being made accused in the case as she was present during the time of murder.