KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency has maintained that Savad, the prime accused in the palm chopping case of Prof T J Joseph in 2010, remained underground all these years with the support of the now-banned Popular Front India (PFI).
In the report it submitted in the NIA court in Kochi on Wednesday while producing the accused, whom it nabbed from Beram in Kannur on Tuesday night after a 13-year-log chase, the NIA said Savad alias Shajahan has been absconding for the past 13 years with the assistance of PFI and its leaders despite the agency’s best efforts to nab him.
“If the accused is released on bail, there is every chance he will cause disappearance of evidence by threatening and influencing witnesses,” the NIA report said.
It said a mobile with a SIM card was recovered from Savad’s possession in a search post his arrest. An intimation of arrest was given to Khadeeja, his wife. Then, his residential premises were searched in which two mobile phones, a SIM card and some ID documents were seized in the presence of an independent witness after complying with all legal formalities, the NIA said in the report.
The agency said Savad had been a part of the conspiracy to attack Joseph. As instructed by principal conspirator M K Nasar, Savad conducted a recce of Joseph’s house, the NIA said. Nasar was sentenced to life by the NIA court last year.
Meanwhile, NIA has approached the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court to conduct Savad’s identification parade. It is learnt the agency has contacted Joseph for a date convenient to him to take part in the exercise next week. A few crucial witnesses of the attack have also been informed about the identification parade. After the parade, NIA will move court seeking Savad’s custody. “His interrogation is highly necessary to unearth the larger conspiracy behind the crime, besides identifying the persons who harboured him during his long absconding period and connected facts,” the NIA report said.
A PFI activist, Savad was part of the seven-member group that attacked Joseph near his house on July 4, 2010. He had chopped off Joseph’s right palm. He was nabbed from a rented house in Beram, where he lived with his wife and two kids, on Tuesday night.