Haritha John & Siddharth Mohan Nair| The News Minute| February 18, 2015| 3.00 pm IST
Beedi tycoon Mohammed Nisham, who had rammed his Hummer car into a security guard in his apartment on January 29 in Thrissur district of Kerala, was denied bail by a district sessions court on Wednesday.
The security guard Chandrabose, 50, had succumbed to the injuries on Monday.
As details of Nisham’s actions emerged, there has been much anger spreading in Kerala and strong calls for justice to Chandrabose
What fuelled more anger were reports that Dandapani Associates was the law firm that was fighting the case for Nisham. Dandapani Associates is run by the wife and son of the Advocate General of Kerala Mr. K.P. Dandapani.
Reports claimed that Dandapani Associates that had represented Nisham previously was helping him out in this case too, and this was termed as cruel irony as Nisham who enjoyed the privilege of hiring the best amongst lawyers, that too from the Advocate General’s family, can try escape from the clutches of law.
But KP Dandapani’s wife Sumathi Dandapani and son Millu Dandapani, both speaking to The News Minute, denied the reports.
“Dandapani Associates has not taken brief for Mr. Nisham. We are not at all involved. What newspapers have reported is false. It is true that we had earlier conducted a case for him, but that was long back,” said Sumathi Dandapani.
Millu Dandapani who is currently in Australia told The News Minute that though he knew the details of the case, they were not representing Nisham. “I saw media reports, but no one bothered to clarify with me.”
He however confirmed that they had represented Nisham in three other cases. “I know Nisham quite well after representing him in three cases. I was his advocate in a case against him when his kid drove a Ferrari, another civil suit against a colleague, and one within family.”
Since all these three cases had reached a settlement only recently, some media houses in Kerala had expressed concern that this was to give Nisham a clean slate when he appeared for Chandrabose’s murder case.
KP Dandapani
Millu Dandapani however gave an inkling of how Nisham’s defense may go in the case. According to him, “Nisham’s friends had spoken to me after the incident. According to them, one security guard hit Nisham first.”
He however agreed that what Nisham ultimately did was ‘complete injustice’.
None of the witnesses in the case (as far as The News Minute knows) has indicated that there was any aggression on part of the security guards.
Advocate K Jayachandran appeared for Nisham at the sessions court, he told TNM that,"Chandrabose's murder was not premeditated. Nisham cannot be booked for murder. I am not part of Dandapani Associates or any company."
There has been genuine concern that Nisham will use his money power to extricate himself out of the case. Millu Dandapani told TNM that a senior law firm has been hired by Nisham to represent him in the case in the High Court, but refused to take the name.
When asked if the Dandapanis will take up the case sometime, he simply retorted that they haven’t taken up till now. He however insisted that they were not approached for this case at all, and denied reports that they opted out owing to the controversy.
The firm run by the Advocate General’s family has been in controversy before.
The Secretary of the Kerala Bar Council had initiated disciplinary proceedings for “unfair practice” against Advocate General Dandapani for letting his wife and son to conduct cases against the state government. Following a writ filed by Dandapani, the High Court of Kerala on February 2, had stayed the proceedings initiated by the Bar Council.
Mohammed Nisham