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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday chargesheeted the harbourer of the key accused in the Kerala professor's palm chopping case. Shafeer C, a cadre of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), has been chargesheeted under various sections of IPC and UA(P)A. NIA investigations have revealed that Shafeer had knowingly given shelter to Savad, the prime assailant of Professor TJ Joseph, by providing him safe asylum, a job under false identity and other facilities. Savad was chargesheeted in the case in 2011. The 2010 case related to the attempted murder of Professor TJ Joseph, a former head of the Malayalam department of Newman College, Thodupuzha, Idukki district. The professor was attacked by a group of PFI workers at Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district for allegedly ridiculing Prophet Mohammed in a Malayalam question paper prepared for the internal examination for B.Com. The attackers cut off Joseph's right palm and hurled a bomb to spread terror among the public before fleeing the scene of the crime. A total of 19 persons, all identified as leaders or activists/cadres of the banned PFI, have so far been convicted in the case.
The government banned PFI and several of its associate organisations on September 28, 2022, for five years under the stringent anti-terror law, accusing them of having links with global terror groups like ISIS. In an interview with ANI on February of 2023, Amit Shah said that the organisation promoted "radicalism and religious bigotry" and tried to prepare "raw material for terrorism" and any delay in action would not have been in the national interest. "We have banned PFI successfully. PFI promoted radicalism and religious bigotry. They were in a way trying to prepare raw materials for terrorism. So many documents have been found which show that their activities were not good for the country's unity and integrity," Amit Shah had said in an exclusive interview with ANI. (ANI)
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