KOCHI: The 13-year-long chase for Savad, the fugitive who chopped the palm of Prof T J Joseph following a row over a question paper, ended on Tuesday night with the NIA arresting him from Kannur.
Savad, 38, the first accused, had been absconding since the incident that took place on July 4, 2010. In a clandestine operation spanning six hours, the NIA’s fugitive tracking wing, based on a tip-off, raided the rented house in Beram near Mattannur in Kannur, where Savad was living with his wife and two children, and arrested him. The raid was carried out with the aid of the Kerala police. Around 20 NIA and police officials were part of the raiding team.
They remained at Savad’s house, interrogating him, till 6 am before bringing him to Kochi. NIA officials said they mainly questioned Savad about his whereabouts all these years and about the people who helped him stay in hiding.
Joseph, then a Malayalam professor at Newman College in Thodupuzha, had received threats for allegedly making derogatory remarks against a religion in a Malayalam question paper he set for the BCom semester examination. On July 4, 2010, a seven-member group picked by the now-banned PFI had confronted Joseph near his house in Muvattupuzha and chopped his palm.
Meanwhile, sources said Savad of Asamannoor, Ernakulam, had been staying at the rented house in Beram with his family since December 2022.
Savad remanded till January 24
Savad was working as a carpenter in Beram under the alias of Shajahan. The house is owned by one Kadeeja, and Savad had rented it using the ID card of his wife, a Kasaragod native.
Before coming to Beram, he stayed near Iritty in Kannur. There are reports that Savad briefly worked in a Gulf country while on the run. Naufal, a neighbour, said Savad was a “very silent man. “He rarely spoke to others. We all knew him as Shajahan here. He went for carpentry work and was recently working at a newly-constructed house nearby. We did not know he was wanted in such a huge case,” Naufal said.
Savad had escaped to Bengaluru after the incident. NIA had announced a bounty of Rs 10 lakh on him. An Interpol red-corner notice was also issued against him.
There were 54 accused persons in the case of whom only Savad had evaded arrest till now. The trial was held in two phases at the NIA court which convicted 19 persons. Savad will face a fresh trial.
Savad was produced in the NIA court in Kochi on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody till January 24.
The NIA will approach the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court to conduct his identification parade, after which it will file a petition for his custody.
In the court, Savad complained of experiencing symptoms of migraine and requested that medications for the same be provided to him in jail. He has been shifted to the Ernakulam Sub-Jail.
Real culprits are conspirators: Prof Joseph
Kochi: In an interview to TNIE on Wednesday, Prof T J Joseph said though Savad’s jail term won’t benefit him, it was gratifying to hear that a criminal absconding for 13 years was nabbed. He also said until the perpetrators of the crime, or those involved in the conspiracy, are brought to justice, such incidents will happen again