KOCHI: The NIA Court has dismissed the defence argument for acquitting an accused in the sensational palm chopping case and decided to proceed with the examination of defence witnesses on Thursday.
Passing the order after the argument under CrPC 232, P Sasidharan, Judge, NIA Court, said that there are sufficient pieces of evidence against Niyas K A, the 19th accused, for not acquitting him from the charges under 232 CrPC procedure.
“The prosecution has examined several witnesses and produced documents to prove the case against Niyas. The prosecution had produced the call detail report to substantiate that Niyas had held discussions with the other accused for facilitation of the crime. On the question of conspiracy, the court has to evaluate evidence as a whole. From the material evidence, the court finds that prosecution had produced evidence against Niyas and it is not a case where there is no evidence. There is no scope for acquitting any accused under CrPC 232,” the court observed.
The NIA had found that Niyas had rescued first accused Savad and fifth accused Shamsuddin who sustained injuries after the incident in a car and shifted them to the house of Abdul Salam. However, the defence counsel had argued that from the examination of witnesses, the involvement of Niyas could not be established and that he can be acquitted under CrPC 232. The NIA case is that a conspiracy was hatched by the accused at the Seemas Auditorium, Perumbavoor, on March 28, 2010, to attack T J Joseph, then a professor at Newman College, Thodupuzha. On July 4, 2010, when Joseph was returning home along with his family after attending the Sunday Mass, a six-member gang intercepted his car. Savad, the first accused, and Shobin, the third accused, smashed the windshield of the car and pulled Joseph out before chopping off his palm.