Thiruvananthapuram : The CBI Special Court, Thiruvananthapuram today sentenced Fr Thomas Kottoor to two life terms and Sister Sephy to singe life in prison for murder of a young nun, Abhaya, 28 years ago. The pair were also fined Rs 5 lakh each. For destroying evidences in the case, Thomas Kottoor and Sephy received additional 7 years which will run concurrent to their time in jail. The verdict was pronounced by Justice K Sanil Kumar.
The arguments over quantum punishment began g 11 am today. The prosecution sought maximum punishment for the culprits while the defense lawyer for Fr Thomas Kottoor plead for leniency on grounds of his age and cancer. The lawyer for Sephy cited her kidney ailment and diabetic condition, apart from maintaining her innocence in the case. Both culprits were brought from jail to the courtroom for their presence during sentencing.
Another priest, Fr Jose Puthrukkayil, who was previously arraigned in the case for his alleged presence when the crime occurred was cleared of charges by the court in 2018.
The case
On the morning of 27 March in that year, Abhaya - a member of St Joseph’s Congregation for religious sisters under the Syro Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam - was reported missing. A search of the premises showed her one slipper lying close to the convent well. Her body was then discovered inside the well and hauled out by Fire Force at 10.00 am. Dr. Radhakrishnan who performed postmortem at Kottayam Medical College recorded abrasions on her right shoulder, hip and lacerations above her right year. Also the one other slipper of the pair was found under the fridge, where Abhaya is believed to have gone to fetch water. There was a bottle of water spilled around the fridge too indicative of some struggle. However, despite the autopsy and other findings, the Kottayam West police initially shut the case as suicide and later upgraded it to unnatural death. In the following month of April 1992, the case was taken over by Crime Branch which reinforced the suicide theory. It was later alleged that Crime Branch destroyed crucial evidence in the case that pointed to murder.
Following a writ petition, the High Court of Kerala handed the investigations to CBI. The CBI team was unable to determine the cause of death however. A second team was called into the case. This time, the death was ruled as murder but they were unable to find evidence to link the perpetrators to the crime. Then, a third team of CBI investigators was summoned that finally found two priests and as nun responsible for murder.
Thus the priests, Thomas Kottoor, Jose Puthurkkayil and the nun Sister Sephy were arrested on 19 November 2008. They were letter released on bail in early Jan of 2009.
In the case, the prosecution maintained that on the fateful morning of March 27, 1992 Abhaya had woken up around 4 am to prepare for exams. She walked to the convent’s kitchen to fetch some water where she stumbled upon the trio - Thomas Kottoor, Jose Puthurkkayil and Sephy - in compromising position. To prevent her from exposing the activity, they struck her with an axe killing her and then dumped her body into the well.
