Businessman sentenced to life for killing guard

A court here on Thursday sentenced a businessman to life imprisonment for running down a security guard with his Hummer sports utility vehicle in a fit of rage.

Additional District and Sessions Judge K.P. Sudhir, who had on Wednesday pronounced Mohammed Nisham guilty, also fined him Rs.70 lakh.

The prosecution accused Nisham of ramming his powerful Hummer into the 47-year-old guard, Chandra Bose, on December 29, 2014 and also beating him up.

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.

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 the 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 had been appointed a typist in a state-run organisation in Thrissur.

Owner of Kings Group of Companies, Nisham courted controversy after 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.