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On Sunday, October 11, three people, including two women, were killed after a speeding Mini Cooper rammed into their scooter near Nedumbassery in Kerala’s Ernakulam district. The police arrested Suhail Sajeev, a 19-year-old native of Kakkanad, who drove the car, along with his co-passengers Ameer (20), Joel (20) and Ninav (19).
Suhail was allegedly drunk when he drove the car, and the Excise Department has booked three bars on charges of selling liquor to underage customers. Police sources TNM spoke to clarified that the amount of alcohol in Suhail’s body can only be confirmed once his lab results come in. However, a breath test did show that he was intoxicated, they said.
A court in Aluva had remanded Suhail to 14 days. He and a co-accused were transferred to the Kakkanad Borstal School, a facility for offenders aged 18 to 21.
The families of the deceased have expressed concerns about the investigation and have raised suspicion of undue influence from Suhail’s father, who is a retail business owner. They have also said that sending someone who committed such a serious crime to a facility for adolescents instead of a prison raises suspicion.
After the accident, Suhail allegedly said that his father would ‘take care’ of the case. Several netizens have used the reported statement to compare the incident with the January 2015 murder of a security guard named Chandrabose by a businessman called Mohammed Nisham.
As the controversy about Suhail’s age, his family’s connections, as well as accusations of elite apathy and disregard for the law thickens, here is a breakdown of what has happened so far.
Why he was booked for homicide, not murder
The police say that overspeeding has been confirmed and that the driver had consumed alcohol. Suhail had recorded a video of himself on his phone, showing him consuming alcohol on the night of the accident.
A police source we spoke to said that the level of alcohol in the blood can only be determined once the lab reports come in. Police are checking whether Suhail and his friends used any other drugs.
The Excise Department has booked the licensees and managers of three bars – Daya, Kadavanthra, Monsoon Empress, Palarivattom and Courtyard by Marriott, Nedumbassery – under the Kerala Abkari Act. The Act prohibits selling liquor to a person under 23 years, which is the legal age for drinking in Keralam.
Suhail has been booked under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The law has two separate parts when it comes to this section – a homicide with intention, and without intention but with knowledge.
Intention usually makes a death a murder, because the accused has a specific intent to cause the death. But in culpable homicide, sometimes a death occurs where the killer has no specific intention to kill, but the death happens in a fit of grave or sudden provocation. Here, though some active fury may be involved, it is still not considered murder because the intention to kill was not premeditated or planned.
On the other hand, when a person kills someone without any intention to cause death, but with sufficient knowledge that their act can cause death, it is treated as culpable homicide with knowledge, but not amounting to murder.
Murder is an aggravated form of culpable homicide. The reason why Suhail was booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder (with knowledge) was that, for now, there is no proof to show that he had the intention to murder the deceased. However, he drove with the knowledge that drunken driving and rashness on the road can cause fatal accidents.
This is also what makes this particular case different from the Mohammed Nisham case of 2015. In that case, Nisham was charged under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with murder. Nisham had a verbal duel with the deceased and physically assaulted him before running him over with his car.
The Thrissur District Additional Sessions Court on Thursday, 21 January 2016, sentenced businessman Nisham to a life term and an additional 24 years of imprisonment. This was upheld later by the Kerala High Court.
The fateful night of the accident
The accident occurred at around 1.45 am near Moozhiyal, close to the road that leads to the CIAL airport in Kochi’s Nedumbassery. Suhail’s speeding Mini Cooper rammed into a scooter. The impact threw the scooter’s rider and two pillion riders onto the road, causing severe injuries.
The car reportedly dragged the scooter for nearly 100 metres before stopping. All three succumbed to their injuries. The deceased were identified as Devika from Wayanad, Gopika from Palakkad, and Ijaz from Coorg, Karnataka, all of whom worked as salespersons in Kochi. The trio had gone out after work to get food.
According to reports, Suhail arrived in the area to pick up a friend who had landed at the Nedumbassery airport. After the collision, he allegedly argued with onlookers and said that his father would take care of the consequences.
His father owns a textile business and is the registered owner of the Mini Cooper.
Victims’ families raise suspicion
The families of the victims have alleged that Suhail might use his father’s influence to evade punishment.
Gopika’s father, who held a press conference, said, “We believe the decision to send someone accused of such a serious crime to a borstal school was intended to sabotage the case. He said, ‘Vappa [father] will take care of it.’ We believe this reflects the influence he has.”
Gopika’s father asked why the accused had been sent to the facility and not a regular prison, despite the gravity of the crime.
He also questioned why consumption of alcohol was not mentioned in the FIR.
“The accused drove at excessive speed while heavily intoxicated, causing a horrific accident that killed three people. Yet, even the fact that he was drunk was not mentioned in the initial FIR,” he said. He also added that Gopika’s post-mortem stitches were reopened to collect blood for a test.
“I suspect this may have been done for some reason or to manipulate the evidence,” he told the press.
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