Muhammad Nisham: The beedi magnate who used his money to avoid the law

Muhammad Nisham, a handsome millionaire from Kerala’s Thrissur city who loved to flaunt his bike fitted with an artificial human skull and skeleton, took liberties with the law too often and for too long.

Muhammad Nisham, a millionaire from Kerala’s Thrissur city who loved to flaunt his bike fitted with an artificial human skull and skeleton, took liberties with the law too often and for too long.

Muhammad Nisham, a millionaire from Kerala’s Thrissur city who loved to flaunt his bike fitted with an artificial human skull and skeleton, took liberties with the law too often and for too long

Accused in more than ten cases including an attempt to murder and sexual assault, the long arm of the law finally caught up with the serial offender after he rammed his luxury SUV on a security guard on January 29 last year.

On Wednesday, when the 39-year-old Nisham was convicted of murder by a Thrissur court, life came full circle for a man who used money and muscle-power to evade the law.

Besides a flourishing bidi business, Nisham is said to also own hotel and jewellery businesses in the Middle East worth some Rs 5,000 core. He also owns a fleet of luxury cars, including a Bentley and an Aston Martin which the police confiscated last year.

Since the highly-publicised Hummer murder of the security guard, many skeletons have started tumbling out of his cupboard.

It has now emerged that at least five old cases were settled after he pumped in money, with political leaders to police officials all enjoying his patronage.

One of the biggest casualties following the Hummer murder was the Thrissur police commissioner Jacob Job, who was shunted out last year when he had a meeting with Nisham days after the cold-blooded murder. Jacob met Nisham without informing officers investigating the case.

A witness who deposed in court in the murder case of the security guard said that even as Nisham rammed his SUV on the victim, he had mocked his employee saying, “This dog won’t die so easily.” Critically injured, the guard succumbed to his injuries after three weeks.

Nisham’s name cropped up in media in 2013 after he posted a video of his minor son driving a Ferrari in their residential complex. It was apparently his birthday gift to his son. The police had registered a case against him after the YouTube post turned viral.

He was also accused of locking up a woman sub-inspector inside his Rolls Royce car for more than two hours after he was stopped during a security check.

The police had booked him for drunken driving and obstructing the official duty of a government servant then. But he managed to come out unscathed, thanks to his connections in the right places.

His stay in jail was also controversial. On one journey back from the court, he was filmed on security camera treating escorting policemen with a sumptuous meal in a luxury hotel.

On another occasion, he was seen talking on his mobile phone while coming out of the court. He also made several attempts to prolong the trial citing one or the other reasons and approached the high court five times and apex court twice to delay the case.

At one point the Supreme Court had instructed the lower court to speed up trail and deliver the verdict by January 31 this year.