The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested Savad, the first accused in the sensational Kerela Professor T.J. Joseph hand-chopping case in 2010, 13 years after the horrific event that shook the country.
In the years after the incident, all forty or so other accused in the case were taken into custody. In the 2015 trial’s first phase, 13 people were found guilty and 18 people were found not guilty. In the 2023 trial’s second phase,
five people were found not guilty and six were found guilty. Savad was among the accused, all of them belonged to the Popular Front of India (PFI), which was banned in 2022.
How has Savad not been arrested?
The National Investigation Agency, which has been probing the case, on Tuesday night arrested a key accused in the case, Savad (38), from Mattannur in Kannur, where he was living as a fugitive. Disguising his identity, Savad lived as a Shajahan and worked as a carpenter.
The National Investigation Agency, which was looking into the case, on Tuesday night arrested a main suspect named Savad (38), from Mattannur in Kannur, where he was hiding from the authorities. Disguising his identity, Savad lived as a Shajahan and worked as a carpenter.
Professor Joseph became a victim of hate.
The right hand of Joseph, a professor at Newman College in Thodupuzha in the Idukki district, was brutally chopped off by the alleged PFI activists on July 4, 2010. The attack took place while the professor was returning home with his family after attending a Sunday mass at a church in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district. 
A gang of seven people dragged the professor out of his vehicle, beat him up, and the main culprit, Savad, who is still on the run, cut off his right hand.
He is surviving and paying the price of unjustified hate directed towards him. Without any valid reason, he is compelled to lead a life being disabled, despite being faultless.
Despite the significant loss, Standing strong against Hate.
Professor Joseph bears no ill will against his attackers whose actions not only impaired the functioning of his palm but also led to him losing his job for a while which in turn resulted in his wife’s suicide.
He has endured a significant loss, losing his life partner due to the repercussions of a hateful act. The attacker attempted to take his life, but he emerged even more positive in the face of adversity.
Joseph expressed his reaction to the verdict he said he had nothing to express as he has never believed that punishing an accused means delivery of justice to the victim.
He further said those caught and convicted in the case “were only the weapons” and the real culprits who are masterminds of the attack are still out there. “It is against them that my battle continues,” Joseph said.
