Absconding accused in 2010 palm chopping case arrested by NIA

Kochi: A 47-year-old activist of a radical Muslim group was arrested here on Saturday by the NIA for alleged involvement in the chopping off of the palm of a college professor seven years ago.

According to the NIA, Manzoor was the lone absconding accused in the case. He was produced before the NIA court here.

Activists of the Popular Front of India had chopped off the right palm of Prof T.J. Joseph on July 4, 2010, when he was returning along with his family members from the Sunday mass near his home in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district.

The case was transferred to the NIA which arrested those behind the crime. In 2015, the NIA court here found 13 guilty and acquitted 18.

PFI, a radical Muslim group, was upset after Joseph - a Malayalam teacher at New Man College Thodupuzha - in the Malayalam question paper that he had prepared for an internal examination at his college had inflammatory remarks on Prophet Mohammed. The PFI chopped off his right palm in retaliation.