Suspected Islamic militants have chopped off a Catholic professor’s hand in Kerala for allegedly insulting Islam in an exam question paper.

Professor T.J. Joseph was attacked on July 4 in while returning home from Sunday mass with his mother and sister, a Catholic nun.

Kochi inspector-general of police, B. Sandya, told ucanews.com that an Islamic extremist group is suspected of the crime and have arrested four people and impounded a vehicle.

She said the attackers used the vehicle to block Joseph’s car before dragging the professor from his vehicle and chopping off his right hand. The attackers then threw the hand away before fleeing.

Church-managed Newman College in Thodupuzha had suspended Joseph, its Malayalam professor, on March 25 for allegedly preparing a question paper with insulting references to the Prophet Muhammad.

St. Joseph Sister Mary Stella said the assailants attacked her brother with an axe and swords.

“They also attacked our elderly mother,” before fleeing, she said.

Her brother had been threatened three times following the question paper row, she added.

Police say officials suspect the Popular Front of India, an extremist group and its political wing the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) for being behind the attack.

Thodupuzha, the commercial center of Idukki district, saw angry protests by various Muslim organizations in March when the question paper outcry first broke and several people were injured in clashes with police.

Joseph was arrested and granted bail in April.

Several political parties including the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) condemned the attack.

State Education Minister M. A. Baby from the communist-led government said the attack was an attempt to polarize society along sectarian lines.

The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council also condemned the attack.

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