The Kerala jeweller Chemmanur Devassykutty Boby, popularly known as BoChe who has been held by police in a sexual harassment case filed by Malayalam film actor Honey Rose, flaunts a persona burnished with outlandish business ideas and curated acts of philanthropy. He announced himself, engineering a routine jewellery inauguration into frenzied fanfare by launching football legend Diego Maradona in 2012 in Kannur.

He wears vanity with the same ease of donning a white dhoti and short-sleeved top. In an interview, driving a Rolls Royce Phantom, he unabashedly pats himself on back saying he picked up driving at the age of six when he stole keys while his father was napping and just went for a drive. Carpentry and masonry are inborn talents for him, he says in the same breath. He heads the Boby Chemmanur International Group, operating in a plethora of sectors like real estate, chits, nidhi company, e-commerce, holiday resorts and so on.

With 1.6 million Instagram followers, 2.6 million Facebook fans, and a YouTube channel, ‘Boche', with 222k subscribers, Boby keeps himself perpetually in the public eye. His content bordering on the bizarre and brag always grabs attention. Boby claims to balance his business interests with philanthropy. Through his ‘Life Vision Charitable Trust’, he has launched several initiatives, including ‘Poor Homes’ near his jewellery outlets to provide shelter, food, and care for the homeless, free ambulance services and community aid programmes, unique gold instalment schemes aimed at making gold ownership accessible. For BoChe, lines blur between brand and charity.

Among Boby’s many headline-grabbing ventures is Kerala’s first Rolls Royce taxi. He converted his Rolls Royce Phantom into a luxury cab, rolled out with a golden tint and adding it to the fleet of Boby Tours and Travel Group. The cost -- Rs 25,000 per day for a ride in unparalleled opulence.

He courted controversies like he did crowd. The grand 'Sunburn @Boche 1000 Acre' New Year bash, planned on his private property in Wayanad, hit a sour note after locals complained, prompting the High Court to intervene. The event was eventually shifted to Thrissur. He also found himself in trouble for selling lucky draw tickets along with tea powder packets—an innovation the Lottery Department didn’t exactly appreciate.

His glowing profile on the website lavishes him with numerous talents and fitness credentials. It attests to his several records, including organising the world’s longest team marathon and completing an 812-km run from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in 2014. This event, aimed at creating the World’s Largest Blood Bank, also earned entries in various record books, including the Kerala, Indian, and Asian Books of Records. A montage of photos and videos shows him pinning a flower on the ears of an old woman, dancing to her song, and he calls himself a kung fu fighter, a sharpshooter, a high jumper, a former footballer and a fitness freak who runs 10km every day.