The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Kochi on Monday posted the palm-chopping case to April 9 for further hearing. The case relates to the attack on T.J. Joseph, professor at Newman College, Thodupuzha, in which a six-member gang chopped off his palm.

Special court judge P. Sasidharan deferred the pronouncement of verdict as he sought more clarifications on certain points from both the prosecution and the accused. The date of pronouncing the verdict will be declared later.

During the trial, which began in July 2013, the court examined 306 prosecution witnesses, four defence witnesses, 963 prosecution documents, 29 defence documents, and 227 material objects. The NIA had charge-sheeted 37 persons in the case, of which 31 underwent trial while the remaining six, including first accused Savad, Sajil, and M.K. Nazar, are absconding. The others who have gone into hiding are 30th accused Shefeque, 31st accused Najeeb, and 33rd accused Aziz As per the charge sheet, the accused persons hatched a conspiracy on March 28, 2010 at Seemas Auditorium in Perumbavoor to attack T.J. Joseph. On July 4, 2010, when Mr. Joseph was returning home, the gang pulled him out of his car and chopped off his palm.