Thiruvananthapuram: The longest investigated murder in the state’s history will see the light of verdict today after 28 long years from year of the victim nun Abhaya’s death in 1992.
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 Kottur, Jose Puthurkkayil and the nun Sister Sephy were arrested on 19 November 2008. They were letter released on bail in early Jan of 2009.
According to prosecution, 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 Kottur, Jose Puthurkkayil and Sephy - in compromising position. To prevent her from exposing the activity, the three allegedly struck her with an axe kept in the kitchen and dumped her into the well.
Ther verdict will be delivered by CBI Special Court in Thiruvananthapuram.
