Hand-chopping case: Aides’ phone trail led NIA to prime accused Savad
KOCHI: The confidence to meet his relatives unmindful of the hawk eyes of the National Investigation Agency proved the undoing of the most-wanted fugitive, Savad, who had chopped off the right hand of Professor T J Joseph in July 2010. The NIA investigation revealed that Savad, 38, of Asamannoor, did not move out of Kerala and that he first stayed at a farm in Valapattanam in Kannur district as an employee there.
According to sources, after the court convicted six more persons in the hand-chopping case last July, Savad grew confident of remaining underground, using the cover name of Shajahan. Following reports of an NIA lookout notice, he believed that the national agency was looking for him abroad, sources said.
“He was tracked after monitoring the mobile phones of PFI activists close to him and his relatives. He contacted a relative using another mobile phone number to meet his family member. However, the NIA was monitoring the mobile phones of all of Savad’s associates. This helped the agency track his location to Mattannur in Kannur. His identity was confirmed from a mark on his upper back, resulting from an injury suffered while attacking Joseph,” a source said.
After chopping the hand of Joseph, Savad was shifted by the PFI leadership to a farm near Valapattanam.
“The farm was located in a remote area far from Valapattanam town. He worked at the farm for around four years using the name of Shajahan. Later, he moved to a place near Manjeshwar in Kasaragod, where he got married in 2016. He then shifted to various places near Iritty. In 2022, he took a house on rent at Mattannur, from where the NIA officials caught him last month,” the source said.
After grilling Savad, the NIA has found that co-accused Ali and MK Nazar were aware of his hideout.
“Ali had made the arrangements for Savad to remain underground. He was sentenced to eight years of rigorous imprisonment by the NIA court in 2015. Nazar was last year awarded life imprisonment as the chief conspirator in the case. All the arrangements were made with the help of PFI persons in Kannur district,” the source said.
After the NIA grilled him in custody for 10 days, Savad has been lodged at the Ernakulam District Jail in Kakkanad. The central agency is set to approach the court again seeking his custody to conduct a DNA test to confirm his identity. The NIA has already questioned his relatives and close aides in Kannur and Kasaragod.