In an apparent setback to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a special court here on Wednesday removed Fr Jose Poothrukayil from the array of accused in the sensational case relating to the death of Sister Abhaya in mysterious circumstances at a convent in Kottayam in 1992.
The surprising turn of events in the protracted legal wrangling over the novice’s death came when CBI Special Judge J. Nazar decreed that he found no clear evidence against the priest in the suspected homicidal drowning case.
However, he ordered the other two accused, Fr. Thomas Kottoor and Sister Stephy, to face trial. The court’s significant ruling was likely to have a bearing on the outcome of the case.
The CBI had told the court that though there were no eyewitnesses to the crime, which took place in a convent in Kottayam on the night of March 27, 1992, there was enough evidence to prosecute the accused.
The agency’s case was that Sister Stephy had hit Abhaya three times on the head with the blunt side of an axe when the 19-year-old entered the convent’s kitchen to drink water and found the suspects in “objectionable circumstances.”
The CBI deposed that the accused threw Abhaya into the convent’s well to make her death appear as a case of suicide or an accident. The agency also concluded that the inquest report filed by the State police was ‘false and forged.’
The CBI said forensic analysis had proved that Abhaya’s was a classic case of homicidal drowning. The agency, in the past years, had filed three reports in the case, the first one stating that Abhaya had committed suicide. In its second report, the agency had indicated that it could not establish beyond doubt whether Abhaya had committed suicide or was murdered. Finally, in 2008, the agency had submitted the final report in the case stating that the nun was killed. It subsequently identified and arrested her alleged killers.
