Police in Kerala say the hardline Muslim group believed responsible for chopping off the hand of a Catholic professor on July 4 has links to al-Qaeda.

“We have recovered CDs and other promotional material from al-Qaeda in raids conducted on the hideouts of Popular Front of India [PFI],” said Jacob Punnoose, a senior police official.

Police say that PFI activists carried out the attack and have arrested four people. They also seized vehicles used to commit the crime.

The attack on the professor was “pre-planned” and we are investigating whether “foreign funding was involved as a large amount of money had been spent planning and carrying it out,” Punnoose said.

The right hand of Professor T. J. Joseph was chopped off after he allegedly made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammad in an exam question paper he prepared in March.

The Church-managed Newman College in Thodupuzha later suspended Joseph, its Malayalam professor, on March 25.

Thodupuzha saw riots from several Muslim organizations after the controversy first broke.

Joseph was then arrested and granted bail in April.

Senior police official B. Sandya told ucanews.com on July 11 that police had details of the people involved in the attack and “hopes to charge all those” involved.

Meanwhile, Joseph’s family said they have forgiven the attackers.

“There is no use harboring anger and hatred,” said Sister Mary Stella, a Catholic nun and Joseph’s sister.

The nun and Joseph’s elderly mother were with him when their car was stopped and Joseph attacked.

Kothamangalam diocese, which covers the area, condemned the attack in a pastoral letter read out in its 110 parishes. Bishop George Punnakottil of Kothamangalam called on the government to quickly bring the attackers to justice.

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