KOCHI: A Kannur man who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for harbouring the prime accused, Savad, in the professor hand-chopping case was a Popular Front of India (PFI) activist and an accused in multiple criminal cases, the police have found. Safeer C, 33, a resident of Vilakkode near Iritty, was shifted to Kochi on Friday and produced before the NIA court.
An NIA team from Kochi nabbed Safeer from the Thalassery court premises on Thursday afternoon.
“He was a key accused in the murder of an ABVP activist, Shyama Prasad, in Kannur. After the arrest of Savad in January this year, Safeer was at large. Due to prolonged absence from the murder case proceedings at the court in Thalassery, a warrant was issued against him. NIA received information that he would be arriving at the court and deployed its team there. He was nabbed while he reached the court,” a source with the police special branch said.
It was Safeer who arranged a hideout for Savad at various places in Kannur district. He also arranged fake identity cards for him, according to the source. “Safeer was involved in five cases. Apart from the murder case, other cases are related to activities of PFI in Kannur and nearby districts,” the police official said.
NIA has received information about other PFI activists who aided Savad in Kannur.
They are currently underground, with the NIA after them. With the central agency seeking Safeer’s custody for five days, the court has decided to consider the application on August 29. NIA also filed a report arraigning Safeer as an accused in the hand-chopping case. He has been remanded to judicial custody till September 20.