Thiruvananthapuram: A professor of the Newman College in Thodupuzha, central Kerala, who has been under suspension over a controversial question in an examination paper, had his right hand hacked. He suffered other grievous injuries in a morning attack Sunday by unidentified assailants.

The professor, T.J. Joseph, was returning from church around 8am local time when a gang armed with weapons including knives and axes pulled him out of the car in Muvattupuzha and hacked his hand. His 83-year-old mother and his sister, a nun, witnessed the incident.

Joseph had been suspended after one of the questions he gave his students in March this year was considered defamatory to Islam. Following the incident yesterday, police were immediately on the investigation trail and found a car in which the assailants were suspected to have travelled to commit the crime.

The vehicle was traced to Nellikunnu near Muvattupuzha.

The assailants threw Joseph's severed hand away before fleeing. It was later recovered. Joseph was rushed first to a hospital in Muvattupuzha and later to a hospital in Kochi where he underwent surgery.

"There were many people in the car. They broke the windows of our car with axes and pulled him out and hacked him," Joseph's sister, Sr Stella, who was visiting him, said. Joseph's octogenarian mother also suffered minor injuries in the incident.

The chilling incident shocked the state. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said it had to be investigated whether the assailants had any links to fundamental groups or terrorist organisations.

Indian Union Muslim League chief Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal was among the first to condemn the crime. Catholic church spokesperson Stephen Alathara said the professor had been suspended for his controversial act, and that a wrong cannot be corrected with another wrong.