Thrissur, Jan 21 (IANS): If you thought the rich and the mighty get away with crime, then you thought wrong. A Kerala businessman with a net worth of Rs.5,000 crore was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a security guard by ramming his car in a fit of rage after he was late in opening the gate of a compound.
Mohammed Nisham, the owner of the Kings Group of companies of which King Beedi is a major product, was found guilty of running down 47-year-old security guard Chandra Bose on December 29, 2014 with his Hummer sports utility vehicle.
Bose worked as a security guard in a posh residential complex near here. After battling for life for 48 days at a hospital, Bose died on February 15 last year.
After the incident, there was outrage among the public as well as sympathy through the social media over how even the uniform of the hapless guard was destroyed in the incident.
Even after Nisham was picked up by police soon after the incident, people thought he would walk free because he was a millionaire businessman.
However, as public outrage mounted, a senior police official who tried to ease things in Nisham's favour found himself booted out.
Even powerful politicians in the state slowly washed their hands off the case.
As C.P. Udaybhanu was made the prosecution counsel, things turned tough for Nisham and the law started taking a quick turn in favour of the deceased.
Despite wooing by Nisham's aides, the poor family of the guard bravely faced all odds.
Their prayers was finally heard on Wednesday when Thrissur's Additional District and Sessions Judge K.P. Sudhir pronounced Nisham guilty, and, on Thursday delivered a verdict sentencing him to life in jail, besides fining him Rs.70 lakh.
Prosecution counsel Udayabhanu told the media on Thursday that there were various charges against the accused.
"Of the Rs.70 lakh compensation, Rs.50 lakh has to be given to the guard's wife.
"Moreover, the court today directed police to register a case against the wife of the accused for giving a false statement," he said.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, meanwhile, said on Thursday that the guard's widow has been appointed as a typist in a state-run organisation in Thrissur.
Nisham, however, is expected to challenge the lower court verdict.
Nisham earlier courted controversy when his seven-year-old son's photograph driving his car was put up on social media. In another case, he allegedly abused a woman police official for checking his vehicle.