Thrissur: A senior Kerala police officer tried to broker a deal to let off the hook a businessman accused of ramming his Hummer into a security guard of an apartment complex in Thrissur. Muhammed Nisham received ample support from the police in various stages of the investigation, said Pathanamthitta superintendent of police Jacob Job who was involved in the case from day one as the city police commissioner.
Nisham rammed his car into Chandra Bose on January 29, 2015, fatally injuring him. Initially, the policed slapped only an attempt to murder charge on the businessman, making it easier for him to get a bail when he was produced before a court on February 12.
Job, however, gave out clear instructions to his subordinate officers to keep the accused in custody because the victim's life was hanging by a thread. Job could sense an instant reaction which was orchestrated at the top level of the force.
When Job asked the Peramangalam police station to take measures to keep Nisham in custody, he received an uncharacteristically lukewarm response from his junior officers. The commissioner asked for more information on the accused to impose more stringent charges under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act (KAAPA) but the local station never handed over the details.
Job served a notice on the circle inspector for insubordination but even that failed to shake up the officers. The top officer got involved in the tug-of-war and nixed the disciplinary action on the circle inspector.
When a team of police officers escorted Nisham to Bengaluru as part of evidence collection, Job wanted them to check for any cases against the accused. The team never bothered. When Job grew suspicious and checked with the officers, they told him that they could not find any case in the station concerned.
Job had to send the officers back to check with the Karnataka Crime Record Bureau, a normal procedure that every officer should have been familiar with. Job struck gold when Nisham was found to be accused in a rape case. That helped him pin down the businessman with a KAAPA charge.
The lackadaisical way in which the officers went about in Bengaluru points to an eagerness to help Nisham.
Job was later suspended for interrogating Nisham in isolation. An inspector general who investigated the allegation just submitted a report that Job interrogated the accused in the absence of other officers in violation of rules.
However, a court wondered how the interrogation would be against the rules when a responsible officer is required to interrogate the accused in sensational case.
