Indian nine-year-old's Ferrari joyride lands father in trouble
Police in Kerala charge Mohammed Nisham with endangering the life of a child after video of birthday drive goes viral
Shiv Malik and agencies
Monday 29 April 2013 10.06 BST
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Indian police have charged a man for allowing his nine-year-old son to drive his Ferrari.
Police in the southern Indian state of Kerala charged Mohammed Nisham with endangering the life of a child and allowing a minor to drive, Inspector MV Verghese said on Monday.
Nisham's wife filmed the boy driving the sports car on his ninth birthday two weeks ago, with his seven-year-old brother in the passenger seat. The video went viral on YouTube, registering over 1m hits and caused an outrage across India, leading police to file charges.
India's economic boom has created a class of the super-rich, whose excesses are frequently in the news.
Verghese said the boy's father, who has a thriving tobacco and real estate business, owns a stable of 18 cars worth an estimated $4m (£2.6m).
Earlier this month, the 17-year-old son of a local Congress party politician in Maharashtra state was arrested after his SUV killed a toddler. The legal driving age in India is 18.
Nisham has applied for bail and is expected to turn himself in at the police station close to his home near the port city of Kochi, Verghese said.
He said police would most likely impound the Ferrari – which can reach speeds of over 170 miles an hour – while the case is ongoing.
The parents of the boy are unabashed. "I am proud of him. He's been driving since he was five," said Amal Nisham, the boy's mother.
She said he had also driven the family's Lamborghini, Bentley and other cars.
"It was his ninth birthday, and since he was insisting for months, we allowed him to drive the Ferrari. He is a cautious and confident driver," the mother told television channel NDTV.
"It's not easy for a child to achieve such a feat at this young age," she said.
