Kasaragod: A day after the arrest of Savad Meerankutty (38), the first accused in the Thodupuzha Newman College professor's hand-chopping case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has intensified the probe to trace the people who helped the accused to find a safe hideout.
The anti-terror agency found that Savad had lived in Valappattanam, Vilakottur and Beram regions of Kannur after changing his identity. While police and NIA were searching for Savad, he was leading a normal life after marrying a woman from Manjeshwar and changing his name to Shajahan.
Though NIA had received inputs on the absconding accused's presence in Kannur, they were confused as he was popular as Shajahan in Beram. But anomalies on his name in the birth certificates of his two children played a crucial role in confirming his real identity, said NIA sources.
While he used his original name (Savad M M) on the first child's birth certificate, he used 'Savad Shajahan' on the certificate of his second child. It is learnt that these two documents led NIA to crack his identity. Injury marks on his body also confirmed that he is the absconding accused in the hand-chopping case.
Sources hinted that though Savad changed his hideouts, he did not leave Kerala even after NIA issued a lookout notice for him.
On Wednesday (January 10), NIA sleuths barged into Savad's house at Beram and took him into custody over the controversial case. He has been remanded in judicial custody. According to reports, the NIA court in Kochi will hear the case again after summoning all witnesses. The probe team will add more witnesses and those who helped the accused will be named as accused, say reports.
The case
The accused had cut off a hand of T J Joseph for allegedly ridiculing Prophet Mohammed in a Malayalam question paper he prepared for the internal examination of B.Com students at Newman College, Thodupuzha in Idukki district. The incident took place on July 4, 2010. The attackers, a group of seven people, pulled the professor out of the vehicle, assaulted him and then his right hand was chopped off by the main accused Savad.
A special NIA court had awarded a life sentence to three people in the case last year. The second accused Sajil (36), third accused M K Nasar (46) and fifth accused K A Najeeb (42) were sentenced to life term in jail. A three-year jail term has been awarded to the other three convicts- P P Moideen Kunju (60), M K Naushad (48) and P M Ayoob (48).
Special NIA court judge Anil K Bhaskar had found the six activists of the banned radical Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) guilty of murder attempt, conspiracy and various other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the second phase of the trial in the case. Some of the accused were also held guilty of offences under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). It acquitted the five other accused in the case.
