NIA takes over Kerala teacher attack case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the probe into the case of chopping off the hand of a college teacher in Kerala last year.

The NIA took over the case following slow progress of investigation into the incident which had invited widespread condemnation from across the country, sources said.

TJ Joseph, 52, was returning home with his family after attending morning prayers at a church when a group of people who had come in a van pulled him out of his car and attacked him for allegedly preparing an inflammatory question paper in July last year.

Joseph's right hand was chopped off and thrown some 200m away, police said.