First Ferrari driving son, now Kerala beedi trader drives himself into trouble

The video of a nine-year-old boy driving a red Ferrari with his seven-year-old brother sitting next to him uploaded on Youtube held the internet spellbound earlier this year. The ‘driver’ was the son of beedi businessman Muhammed Nisham. The resultant public outrage resulted in the businessman being charged in April with endangering the life of a child and allowing a minor to drive.

Nisham is the managing director of Tirunelveli-based King Beedi Co. He is also a prominent tobacco supplier with hotel and jewelry businesses in the Middle East. The businessman and his wife were however unembarrassed by the furor. “I am proud of him. He has been driving since he was five,” his mother told TV channels. [caption id=“attachment_894267” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A screenshot of Nisham’s Ferrari. Youtube image[/caption] In the latest episode involving Nisham’s cars,  as reported in The Indian Express, a summons has been sent to him by customs officials in Thrissur, who are trying to verify whether the documents are in order, or if the cars were undervalued. Nisham owns at least six imported cars – a Bentley, a Rolls Royce, an Aston Martin, a Road Ranger, a Ferrari and a Jaguar. Besides these, he also owns a Skoda and an Audi. It’s not clear whether the incidents are linked, but Nisham’s fleet of cars has been in the news this week for the wrong reasons. Last Thursday, Nisham was driving his brand-new Rolls Royce in Thrissur when he was stopped by the police for drunk driving. After he was taken to the station, police allege that he attempted to misbehave with a female sub-inspector in their team. He also allegedly told the cops that no police station in Kerala is fit for his Rolls Royce to park in. At this point, in order to prevent him from driving away, the woman sub-inspector got into the car to get the keys from inside. Then, according to the police, Nisham, who was standing outside, locked the car with a remote control and trapped the sub-inspector inside. Nisham was ultimately arrested and produced before a local court, which first remanded him in judicial custody and then granted him bail the following day. While flashy cars like a Ferrari are certainly attention-grabbing, Nisham’s vehicles may be attracting a little too much of the wrong kind.