NEW DELHI -- Charges have been filed against a man for allowing his nine-year-old son to drive his Ferrari, police in the southern Indian state of Kerala said Monday.
Mohammed Nisham was charged with endangering the life of a child and allowing a minor to drive, said Insp. M.V. Verghese.
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 and caused an outrage across India, causing police to file charges.
India's economic boom has created a class of 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 value of US$4 million.
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 likely impound the Ferrari 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 the boy has also driven the family's Lamborghini and 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.
