The NIA charge-sheeted Shafeer, another PFI terrorist, for sheltering a key accused in the case related to the chopping off of Prof. T.J. Joseph Master’s hand on 4 July 2010, over blasphemy accusations. The NIA has disclosed that Shafeer had knowingly arranged a safe hideout for Savad, the prime assailant of Professor T.J. Joseph. Savad was also provided with a job under a false identity, along with other facilities. He was charge-sheeted in 2011.
Shafeer was charge-sheeted on 17 February 2025. He is a diehard cadre of the Popular Front of India, now an outlawed terrorist outfit. He has been charge-sheeted under various sections of the IPC and the UA(P)A.
NIA Chargesheets Another PFI Accused in Kerala Professor’s Palm Chopping Case pic.twitter.com/1rxSUBSBw5
— NIA India (@NIA_India) February 17, 2025
The attack on Prof. Joseph, then head of the Malayalam department of Newman College, Thodupuzha, Idukki district, was a rude shock to the entire state. Professor Joseph was attacked by PFI assailants for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Mohammed in a Malayalam question paper for the internal examination of B.Com. The killer squad severed Joseph’s right palm and hurled a bomb to create terror among the public before fleeing the scene. Nineteen attackers have already been convicted in the case. All of them were active PFI workers. The organisation was banned on 28 September 2022, along with several of its associate organisations, under stringent anti-terror laws due to its links with global terror groups like ISIS.
Later, in February 2023, Home Minister Amit Shah stated in an interview that the PFI promoted “radicalism and religious bigotry” and sought to prepare “raw materials for terrorism”. The Home Minister further asserted that the government had successfully banned the PFI and recovered numerous documents proving that their activities were detrimental to the country’s unity and integrity.
The NIA’s intervention alone led to the aforementioned developments. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), then in power, did not dare to act against the PFI’s attempt to murder Prof. Joseph due to their minority vote-bank politics, in which both parties have been competing against each other.
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