Prof attack: Key accused arrested

The NIA has nabbed Tamar Ashraf of Thodupuzha in Kerala’s Idukki district, a key accused in the case relating to the brutal attack on Prof TJ Joseph on July 4, 2010. Ashraf, who had arranged financial assistance for the professor’s assailants, was arrested on Thursday night from Muvattupuzha by the local police as per instructions from the NIA, which was probing the case.

Ashraf, who had been hiding abroad since the attack on the professor, was brought to Muvattupuzha with the help of the Interpol. The main charge against Ashraf, one of the conspirators of the attack, is that he had arranged the funds for the assailants. Six more key accused persons are yet to be arrested in the case.

Activists of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India and its political wing SDPI had cut off the right hand of Prof Joseph on the morning of July 4, 2010 when he was returning home from a local church in Muvattupuzha after attending the Sunday Mass. The Islamists had charged him with “blaspheming” Prophet Muhammad in a test paper he had prepared for the students.

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