Prof. T.J. Joseph (file)
| Photo Credit: VIPIN CHANDRAN
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested Savad, the first accused in the sensational Prof. T.J. Joseph hand-chopping case, 13 years after the gruesome incident.
Savad was arrested from a rented house in Beram ward under the Mattannur municipality in Kannur district of Kerala on January 9 (Tuesday). He had been doing carpentry works during his five-month stay in the area.
He was set to be produced before the NIA Special Court in Kochi on January 10 (Wednesday) afternoon. The agency will seek his custody as part of collecting crucial evidence in the case.
The NIA had announced a reward of ₹10 lakh for information on Savad last year.
A native of Asamannoor in Ernakulam district, the 38-year-old had allegedly chopped off the right hand of T.J. Joseph, then professor of Newman College at Thodupuzha in Idukki district. The attack was carried out by a group of activists of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) while he was returning home with his family after attending a Sunday Mass at a church at Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district on July 4, 2010.
According to investigation agency, it was a reference to Prophet Muhammad in one of the question papers for BCom exams in March 2010 set by Prof. Joseph that provoked the accused to attack the professor.
54 accused
There were 54 accused in the case. As many as 37 were chargesheeted and 31 faced trial. Of the 31, the Special Court for NIA convicted 13 accused and acquitted 18 others in April 2015.
The NIA court had found six activists of the banned PFI guilty of murder attempt, conspiracy and various other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the second phase of the trial in July 2023. It had acquitted five others accused in the case for want of evidence.
Savad had reportedly left for Bengaluru after the incident along with M.K. Nasar, the third accused in the case. Though Nasar had surrendered four years ago, the first accused was out of the reach of the investigating agency as he kept shifting his hideouts for the last 13 years.
The NIA suspected that he had received support from the PFI network in Kerala and outside to escape the eyes of the investigating officials.
A victory for legal system: Professor
Reacting to the development, Prof. Joseph said that he considered the arrest “a victory for the legal system.”
“As a victim, I do not feel elated as the actual abettors of the crime continued to remain elusive,” he said.