KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case in which the palm of Thodupuzha Newman College professor T J Joseph was chopped off, has collected evidence of forign extremists funding.NIA has issued an alert in all airports in the country to track the four main accused in the case.
The Kerala state police had conducted a detailed probe into the case and filed chargesheets against 27 accused. The investigation was taken over by the NIA after it was strongly suspected that the incident had terrorist involvement and that foreign extremist agencies had funded the attack

The NIA has circulated a note called 'lookout details certificate' containing the complete details of the accused, to the emigration wing of the airports in the country.

The note contains the photograph and other details of the accused who have managed to escape to some Gulf country after committing the crime. The alert has been issued on M K Nazeer, Thamar Ashraf, Sawad and Kunju Moitheen. Sawad is the first accused in the case and is said to have chopped off the palm of the professor.

The NIA officials suspect that the accused used fake passports to flee the country. "The alert has been issued to ensure that they are identified by the officials when they land at the airport," the officials said. The NIA had also sought the support of the Interpol in tracking the accused who have holed up in various parts of the Gulf countries.

It was on July 4, 2010 that a gang attacked Joseph at Muvattupuzha while he was returning along with his family from the church. The gang chopped off his right palm in the attack. The attack was carried out by extremist elements after Joseph, a Malayalam teacher at the college, prepared a question paper that reportedly contained an objectionable reference to the Prophet.