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	Three Held in Sensational Nun Murder Case in Kerala By John Mary The Peninsula November 20, 2008 http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=India&month=November2008&file=World_News2008112054515.xml Thiruvananthapuram: India’s premier probe agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, has arrested two priests and a nun in connection with the alleged murder of a 21-year-old Catholic nun in the south Kerala district of Kottayam 16 years ago. The CBI team produced Fr Jose Puthrukayil, chancellor of Knanaya Catholic Church in Kottayam, Fr Thomas M Kottoor, principal of Pius X College in Kasargod district, and Sister Stephy, the victim’s convent mate, before the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Kochi today. All three have been remanded in the CBI custody till December 8. The CBI did not submit any fresh detailed evidence in the court but the probe team chief, Superintendent of Police, Ashok Kumar, told reporters that the agency had sufficient evidence and would be able produce it in the court within a month. Fr Thomas Kottoor was a lecturer at the BCM College Both he and Fr Puthrukayil were taken into custody on Tuesday evening while the nun was picked up this morning. All three were subjected to the lie-detector and narco analysis tests. Sr Abhaya, a pre-degree student at the CMS College in Kottayam, was found dead in a well at Pius X convent on March 27, 1992. The protracted probe purportedly reached a crucial stage after Sanju Mathew, who resided near the convent, gave fresh clues to the CBI team recently. After the case was transferred from the State Crime Branch police to the CBI, the latter reached at diametrically opposite conclusions, first endorsing the State police version of suicide and later concluding it as a homicide. CBI deputy superintendent of police R K Aggarwal submitted in the Court in August this year that the investigation provided indications to real killers but that was insufficient to prosecute them. In the 16 tears, the mysterious death of the nun, perhaps the most sensational involving the religious in Kerala, had seen several twists and turns. On the fateful day, the nun had risen quite early to study. Later that morning, fellow sisters found Sister Abhaya’s veil on the kitchen door, a bottle of water and one of her slippers on the floor and a refrigerator open. The State police surgeon, who conducted the post mortem, recorded that the nun was conscious when she had fallen into the well. Abhaya’s father Thomas Aikkarakunnel backed allegations by an action committee that his daughter was murdered and that the State police, under the influence of the Church and politicians, had made it into a case of suicide to shield clergymen..The case was then transferred to the CBI. After years of tracking, the CBI was about to conclude two years back that it was suicide. However, the judge declined to entertain the closure report filed by the CBI and directed the CBI high-ups to constitute a separate team. Meanwhile, Varghese P Thomas, a deputy SP with the CBI quit half way through the investigation alleging that his superior officer was forcing him make it a case of suicide. Recently, he even alleged that the pressure had come from even the secretariat of the late Prime Minister, P V Narasimha Rao. At different times during the probe, the Court had suspected unseen hands behind attempts to mislead the case probe. Adding to the mystery was the public interest petitioner, Joemon Puthenpurackal, falling out of the good books of the victim’s father. The latter even told the judge that the public interest litigant did not have legal standing to pursue the case. In yet another dubious turn, a magistrate suspected tampering of tests on the victim’s specimen at the Chief Chemical Examiner’s Lab here and the lab officer herself admitting she had made corrections but no foul play. Responding to the arrests, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said the way events unfolded have shown that “some people command a lot of respect but incidents like this prove that this very same people can do otherwise also”.
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