Indian millionaire charged with murder via SUV

NEW DELHI - An Indian millionaire has been charged with murder in the southern Indian state of Kerala after police said he rammed his SUV into his security guard he accused of being too slow.

Mohammed Nisham slammed his Hummer into the guard and hit him with an iron rod after pinning him against a wall as the gates were slow to open when the businessman returned home late one night two weeks ago, police official Biju Kumar said Tuesday.

The 50-year-old guard, K. Chandrabose, died Monday after being in a hospital on life support.

Nisham was in custody in a jail near the town of Thrissur where he lives, Kumar said.

Nisham has had several police cases filed against him, including one for allowing his 9-year old son to drive a Ferrari on a public road in 2013. He was granted bail on some cases and was ordered to pay fines for others.

The BBC reports Nisham is also accused of having locked a female police officer in his Rolls Royce after she asked him to pull over in 2013.

India's economic boom has created a class of super-rich, whose excesses are frequently in the news.

Nisham has a thriving tobacco and real estate business in Kerala. When he was charged with allowing his son to drive the car, police records showed that he owned 18 high-end cars worth an estimated $4 million, including a Bentley and a Lamborghini.