Kochi | The NIA has approached a court seeking cancellation of bail granted to a key conspirator in the 2010 hand-chopping attack on professor T J Joseph, after a fresh criminal case was registered against him in Aluva.

The agency moved the NIA court against M K Nazar following a case registered by the Aluva East Police in January this year for allegedly trespassing into a house and assaulting a 61-year-old man, Muhammad Kunju, at Kunjunnikara in Kadungallor.

Nazar, allegedly associated with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the NIA court for his role as a key conspirator in the attack on Joseph at Muvattupuzha in 2010.

However, the Kerala High Court later suspended the sentence and granted him bail.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) argued that Nazar had violated the bail conditions by getting involved in another criminal case.

NIA court judge P K Mohandas, after hearing both the prosecution and defence, observed on Wednesday that the court does not have jurisdiction to alter the suspension of sentence granted by the appellate court or to cancel bail granted by the High Court in the appeal.

Sources said the NIA is likely to approach the Kerala High Court with a fresh petition.

On July 4, 2010, a seven-member gang allegedly associated with the PFI attacked Joseph and chopped off his right wrist, accusing him of hurting religious sentiments through a Malayalam question paper he had set at Newman's College, Thodupuzha.

A total of 19 people were convicted in the case in a two-phase trial, while the prime accused, Savad, was arrested in 2020