The Special Vigilance Court in Thrissur on Wednesday ordered a probe against Kerala’s Director General of Police KS Balasubramaniam and nine other police officials over the allegation that efforts were made by officials to save ‘Ferrari Dad’ Muhammad Nisham who had murdered a security guard near Thrissur by ramming his Hummer SUV into him.
Vigilance Judge K Haripal ordered the probe on the basis of a PIl filed by rights activist Biju Kochupaul of Thrissur which said that police officials had tried to derail the probe into the murder and save Nisham under his financial influence. The judge asked the Director, Vigilance to submit the preliminary probe report by June 25.
Apart from Balasubramaniam, former Thrissur City Police Commissioner Jacob Job, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Guruvayur) K Jayachandran Pillai and Circle Inspector (Peramangalam) PC Bijukumar were among the officials against whom probe had been ordered. The probe is for ascertaining whether there is need for registration of a case in the matter.
The judge ordered the probe after the completion of preliminary arguments based on the allegations about the DGP’s interference in the case for protecting Nisham and media reports on the errors committed by the police at various stages of the investigation. The petitioner alleged that there was mystery in the DGP’s three-day stay in Thrissur without any official assignment.
Government Chief Whip PC George had recently triggered a controversy by accusing the DGP of interfering in the case in order to protect Nisham. George had produced certain voice recordings of telephone conversations to support his allegation about the role of the DGP in the bid to derail the investigation in the murder case.
Nisham, MD of Thirunalveli-based Kings Beedi Company, had attacked Chandrabose (48), a security guard at Puzhakkal on the morning of January 29 by ramming his Hummer into him for being late in opening the gates.