The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested the main accused in the Kerala professor palm-chopping case of 2010. M Savad, an activist of the now-banned Popular Front of India, was on the run for the last 13 years. The arrest comes two weeks after the NIA enhanced the reward for information on Savad from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh in December 2023.
The 40-year-old, a native of Odakkali Asamannoor near Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district of Kerala, was arrested from near Mattannur in Kannur, the NIA said in a statement.
On July 4, 2010, Savad and seven other PFI members had attacked Professor TJ Joseph for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed in a Malayalam question paper prepared for the internal examination of B. Com students at Newman College, Thodupuzha in Idukki district. The offending question in the March 2010 exam had asked students to punctuate sentences of a conversation between a mentally unstable man and god. According the FIR, Savad chopped off the right palm of the professor using an axe and fled the scene with the weapon.
“Savad was identified as the main accused in the infamous 2010 case of attempted murder of Professor TJ Joseph by chopping off his palm. He was charge-sheeted on 10th January 2011 in the case, one of the earliest such incidents in India reflecting the ideology of violent extremism being pursued by the Popular Front of India (PFI),” an NIA spokesperson said.
According to the NIA, Savad was living in Beram near Mattannur in a rented accommodation and the alias of a carpenter named Shahjahan. He reportedly got married while on the run. His wife and two children were living with him in Beram.
Officials said the NIA will probe individuals who assisted Savad in settling down in Beram and marrying into the neighbouring district of Kasargod. The NIA’s search for Savad had led the agency to several parts of India and abroad, including countries like Afghanistan and some in the Middle East for more than a decade.
According to the family of his wife, they had no knowledge about his past and came to know about the details only from news reports after the arrest on Wednesday. The family members told local media that he was introduced to them as an orphan.
According to sources, a detailed interrogation will focus on how Savad spent the last 13 years.
Savad was one of the 57 accused arrested and charge-sheeted in the case in two phases. The NIA, which took over the probe from the Kerala Police, slapped the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against the accused. Nineteen accused have so far been convicted for various offences under IPC and UA(P) Act in the case. Of them, three have been convicted for life and 10 others sent to eight years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) and fined.
“All the accused in the case were either leaders or activists/cadres of the now banned PFI and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and were actively involved in the criminal conspiracy relating to the lethal attack on Professor TJ Joseph at Muvattupuzha,” the NIA spokesperson said.
The accused had carried out the barbaric daylight attack on the professor in the presence of his family members when he was travelling in a car with his mother and sister after Sunday morning mass from the local church. The gang of assailants also hurled some explosives before the attack.
Following the uproar over the question paper, the professor was suspended but on July 24, 2010, two weeks after the attack, his suspension was revoked by the Mahatma Gandhi University which described the initial move as an “unintentional error”. However, on September 4, 2010, the management of the college run by the Syro Malabar diocese of Kothamanglam under the catholic church terminated him from service for hurting religious sentiments.
Joseph’s family struggled financially ever since and his wife Salomy died by suicide on March 19, 2014. She was reportedly suffering from depression allegedly brought on by the management’s hesitation in reinstating the professor. As her death triggered a wave of protests against the church, Joseph was reinstated on the day of his retirement — March 31, 2014 — with the management declaring a holiday for the institution.
In 2015, in the first phase of the trial, an NIA court in Kochi found 13 accused in the case guilty and acquitted 18 others. During the trial of the first batch of accused, the 11 persons mentioned in the supplementary chargesheet were absconding. With Savad’s arrest, the NIA is set to submit another supplementary chargesheet in court.
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