KOCHI : “Is this not the hand with which you drafted the question ridiculing Islam, and you shall hence never write with it.” These were the words that Prof T J Joseph recollected Savad uttering to him during witness examination in the NIA court trying the hand-chopping case. Savad, who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) after remaining at large for 13 years, was chosen by the Popular Front of India (PFI) to attack Prof Joseph, of Thodupuzha Newman College, as retaliation over the question-paper scandal.
Before NIA took over the investigation in 2011, the case was handled by Kerala police. An officer who was part of the probe team then said not much information was available on Savad. There were only a limited number of photographs of him that existed.
“In fact the photograph that is used in the look-out notice circulating now was taken years before the attack. He always kept a low profile. He was trained to carry out the attack. He was brainwashed into believing that chopping the hand was the correct punishment for any derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad, according to the Quran. The conspirators in the case had made all arrangements to help the seven-member hit squad go underground immediately. It will be with their help that he managed to evade arrest for such a long period,” the officer said.
After dragging Prof Joseph out of his car, Savad and four others pinned the victim to the road behind the vehicle. Savad inflicted heavy cuts on the left palm near the knuckle with an axe, almost chopping the tip of three fingers. Suddenly the second accused Sajil shouted, ‘Savad, not this hand, the other one,’ said a court document. After carrying out the act, he picked up the severed palm and walked towards the Omni van in which they arrived. He later threw the severed palm into the courtyard of a house owned by a man named Joy.
Abdul Khader, the probe officer, had deposed before court that Savad was carrying out the penal punishment prescribed in the religious text.
Anyway one thing is clear that there was a clear intention on the part of assailants to inflict particular injuries on the right hand and the left,” said a court document.
He always kept a low profile, says officer. There were only a limited number of photographs of Savad. “The photo that is used in the look-out notice circulating now was taken years before the attack. He always kept a low profile,” said the probe officer