Kerala professor’s palm chopping case: Accused used fake name, moved places to evade law
Officials aware of the investigation said that the accused was working as a carpenter in Beram.
Savad, the prime accused in the 2010 professor palm-chopping case, who was hiding from the law for 13 years, acquired a false identity, got married, and had two children, investigators said on Thursday, a day after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested him from Kannur district.
Savad, from Ashamannur in Ernakulam district, allegedly used a hatchet to chop off the palm of Malayalam professor TJ Joseph in July 2010. He went missing after the incident. He was picked up by NIA sleuths in the early hours of Wednesday from a rented home in Beram ward of Mattannur municipality.
Officials aware of the investigation said that he was working as a carpenter in Beram and was known to locals and neighbours as Shahjahan. He lived with his wife, from Majeshwaram in neighbouring Kasaragod district, and two children. There was a reward of ₹10 lakh for information leading to his arrest.
Of the 42 accused who faced trial, 19 were convicted for various offences in connection with the case.
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On Thursday, Abdul Rehman, Savad’s father-in-law, said that he did not know his daughter’s husband was a man on the run, and came to know only through TV news channels.
“I didn’t know about his involvement [in the case] at all. I came to know about it when it flashed on TV channels. That’s when my daughter told my wife about his arrest,” said Rehman, who lives in Majeshwaram on the Kerala-Karnataka border.
He said that he came in touch with Savad in 2016 at a dargah in Ullal, a town in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka close to the Kerala border.
“He introduced himself as Shahjahan and said he lived in Valapattanam in Kannur district. After we became familiar over time, we spoke about him marrying my daughter. He told us that he didn’t have any family or friends and that he lived alone. We didn’t think to investigate his background at the time,” said Rehman, adding that the wedding took place in 2016.
When probed further, he said that he had given all the information to the investigators. “Please ask them, don’t trouble us.” Savad’s wife was not available for comment.
An officer at Mattannur police station who did not want to be named said Savad lived with his family in Beram for at least 11 months, before which he was in Valapattanam and Vilakkode, both in Kannur district, for varying periods.
“A team of our special branch is investigating how he managed to live here under a false identity for so many years and who helped him,” said the officer.
While Savad has been remanded in judicial custody till January 22, NIA is probing the alleged involvement of Popular Front of India and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) leaders in helping Savad find a job and a home over these years. The agency has reportedly confiscated a phone and a SIM card used by the accused from his rented home which will help reveal the role of others in the case.
Investigators said Savad was on their radar after they were tipped off about his presence in Beram.
Joseph, the Malayalam professor whose palm was chopped off for allegedly “insulting” Prophet Mohammed in an internal exam question paper, said that the real conspirators who planned the attack on him and sent the men, including Savad, for the job, have still not been caught.
“(Police) define him as the first accused, but in my heart, he or the men who attacked me that day are not the key accused. I believe that the people who conspired against me and sent these men to attack me are the real accused. They have not been included in this case. They are still hidden from plain sight,” he said.
“As long as they are not caught, such criminal and terrorist activities will continue to happen,” the professor said.
