On the wee hours of 29 January, Kattungal Chandrabose was fast asleep. Even in his worst nightmare, he wouldn’t have guessed what was going to happen next.
According to an eyewitness, this is what happened. Muhammad Nisham, a businessman and resident of a posh gated community in Sobha City, Thrissur, came home late. After reaching the gate, he honked incessantly. Failing to elicit any response, he slammed his Hummer into the wall in anger. Hearing the sound, Chandrabose, 47, and his fellow security guards came to open the gate. As it was quite late, Chandrabose took some time to verify the vehicle and identify the occupants. By this time, Nisham started to yell at him.
“Nisham, who looked drunk, came out and started abusing the guards for the delay,” recalls the witness. “He grabbed a baton from one of the guards and smashed the windowpanes of the security cabin. When Chandrabose pleaded with him to stop, Nisham turned his fury on him and started raining blows on the guard. Terrified, Chandrabose ran for cover, but Nisham chased him in his SUV and rammed into him.”
After that, Nisham allegedly shoved Chandrabose inside the SUV and drove him to the parking lot. He reportedly thrashed the security guard until he fell unconscious.
Meanwhile, the other guards alerted the Peramangalam Police Station. However, the police team allegedly took their own sweet time to arrive at the spot and failed to take any action against the “influential businessman”.
The bruised and battered Chandrabose was shifted to the Amala Medical College in Thrissur, where he succumbed to his injuries on 17 February.
“There was no one to help us,” says one of his fellow security guards. “The system is always behind the rich.”
Nisham, 38, is no stranger to such stunts. Two years ago, he became part of YouTube folklore when his video featuring his nine-year-son driving a Ferrari went viral.
According to Sudheesh T, a senior correspondent with Deccan Chronicle, Nisham had been infamous for his wild ways since his childhood days. He always had an obsession with imported cars and reportedly owns a fleet of 16 supercars, including a Lamborghini, Range Rover, Bentley, Ferrari, Rolls Royce Ghost and Aston Martin.
Importing such exotic cars had landed Nisham in trouble with the income tax sleuths, but he skillfully evaded any punishment by paying off the officials every time.
Nisham is one of the three sons of beedi tycoon, the late Adakkaparampil Abdul Khadar. After his father’s death in 1995, Nisham inherited a share of the Tirunelveli-based King Beedi Co. Later, he diversified into the business of jewellery, hotels and real estate. The latter has proved to be a veritable money-spinner for Nisham.
The local police who took Nisham to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for gathering evidence found assets worth several crores in Bengaluru and Tirunelveli. Sources claim that he owns a 20,000 sq ft commercial complex in Bengaluru, which houses a beauty salon, gymnasium etc. The beedi production unit in Tirunelveli is spread across two acres and employs nearly 12,000 workers.
According to police sources, Nisham is a habitual offender and is listed as a ‘rowdy’ in the hall of shame of the Peramangalam police station. Every time he had a scrape with the law, he escaped without punishment thanks to his money power. Nisham has been registered as an accused in no less than 16 criminal cases. Nisham himself has admitted to the police that many of the cases were settled out of court. In one such case, the police helped Nisham settle a case after he got into a physical fight with his neighbour in Kochi. He received similar help after getting involved in an altercation at a gym. A cheque-bouncing case and drunken driving case were also dismissed with the help of the police and lawyers.
A case of molesting a Bengaluru-based model has reached a dead end one year after the incident. He was also accused of posting nude pictures of a woman on Facebook. Interestingly, Nisham’s brother Abdul Rasak filed a case against him under the IT Act, alleging that he had sent vulgar messages to his wife. Both the cases were settled out of court. During interrogation, Nisham admitted that he had spent lakhs to settle such cases.
On 14 June 2013, the police arrested Nisham and remanded him to custody on charges of obstructing Thrissur SI AP Devi from performing her duties.
“During a routine check one evening, I had stopped a Rolls Royce car coming from the direction of Kokkala junction,” she recalls. “I later realised that the occupants were Nisham and his family. As I suspected that he was driving in an intoxicated state, I asked him to step out. But he refused. Following this, my team was forced to drag him out. I warned him that since he was drunk, he would be fined, but he was unwilling to pay up. Even though we had an hour-long exchange of words, he did not show any signs of falling in line. Instead, he got into an ugly spat with us. So, we took him into custody.”
However, Nisham got out on bail the very next day and drove off in the Rolls Royce. The case is still pending.
Chandrabose’s impoverished family has lost its sole breadwinner and his life cannot be replaced by the compensation offered by the chief minister.
Jamanthi is adamant that the man responsible for her husband’s murder should be brought to justice and punished. The mother of two is not ready for any compromise and has come out into the open against the police officials who had failed to take the statement of Chandrabose.
In his defence, Thrissur Police Commissioner Nishanthini claimed that his team could not record Chandrabose’s statement because he was lying comatose.
However, Jamanthi has a different story to tell. She claims that Bosettan, as she called him, talked to her on the morning when he was admitted to the hospital.
“He asked me for water and enquired about the kids,” she says. “Bosettan also had a chat with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy when he visited the hospital.
“What the police are saying is far from the truth. Bosettan was able to speak. They are telling lies so as to help Nisham. I don’t have any trust in the investigation. I don’t think the probe will proceed in the right direction.”
Questions are being raised about the police’s inept handling of the case. Though the police have received ample evidence to substantiate Nisham’s role in the murder and his shady dealings during the time of the raid, they have neither included those in the chargesheet nor invoked any other sections of the IPC in connection with the evidence other than 302 (murder).
There are also allegations that the shoe Nisham had used to kick Chandrabose was made of python skin and costs around Rs 5 lakh. Though pythons are included in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the use of its products banned, the police have not filed a case under that clause. When asked about this, Nishanthini said that the police would investigate whether the shoe was indeed made of python skin.
The police have also made a glaring mistake in invoking a section under the Motor Vehicles Act because Nisham had indulged in violence under the influence of alcohol.
Even though the CPM, CPI and the BJP have raised suspicions about the source of Nisham’s wealth and demanded a probe, the police are yet to oblige.
However, DGP KS Balasubramanian has said that there is no obstacle in invoking the Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act (KAAPA) in Nisham’s case. “The businessman has indulged in such crimes that he can be booked under KAAPA,” the top cop said.
Meanwhile, based on an eyewitness account that Nisham’s wife Amal was present in the car during the time of the attack, Permangalam CI Bijukumar questioned her. However, she denied the charges and claimed that Nisham was alone at the time.
At a time when cops are under the scanner, North Zone ADGP Shanker Reddy has launched a probe against former Thrissur police commissioner Jacob Job for spending 90 minutes with Nisham while he was in police custody. Reddy has been instructed to find out whether Job was bribed by Nisham or his relatives. The probe was launched in the wake of allegations that some policemen are hand-in-glove with the businessman.
Even though local MLA PA Madhavan and District Congress Committee president Abdul Rahmankutty have denied allegations that they visited Nisham at Viyyur prison, there are suspicions that some politicians are involved in the case..
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