THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On Jomon Puthenpurackal’s back, beneath the left shoulder, there is a nine-inch-long deep hack wound. The wound is the stamp of a murder attempt young Puthenpurackal had to face in 1994. It was nearly two years after he took over as the convener of Sister Abhaya action council and the attacker was his elder brother Uthuppan. Jomon who suffered serious wounds could save his life because neighbours rushed him to Goverment Medical College hospital, Kottayam.
Puthenpurackal still believes that the attack by his elder brother was planned by the powerful Knanaya Catholic Church diocese of Kottayam to which he also belongs. The Church had been doing everything possible to bury the case and Puthenpurackal was perceived as a ‘potential trouble maker’ by them.
A native of Areekkara near Uzhavoor in Kottayam, Puthenpurackal was 23 years old when Sister Abhaya was murdered. A middle-school dropout who was working as a daily wage labourer, Puthenpurackal had begun his public life as a Youth Congress activist.
Later, he became a follower of freedom fighter K E Mammen who was living in Kottayam. It was Mammen who suggested his name as the convener when Sister Abhaya case action council was formed on March 31, 1992.
That decision was the smartest one taken by the grieving local residents who wanted to find out the real culprits. The fight of Puthenpurackal since that day has defined the course of the investigation. Whenever there was a lapse from investigators, he had intervened with complaints.
He was the one who sought the removal of CBI SP V Thyagarajan from the investigation after Varghese P Thomas quit. He filed intervening petitions whenever the investigators tried to wind up the case, citing lame excuses. During the trial that lasted for over a year, Puthenpurackal was present in the CBI court and was available on call for the prosecutor and CBI officials to clear any doubt.
“I am ready to die today. My mission is complete,” he told an bevy of reporters who surrounded him at the CBI court compound on Tuesday. The 52-year-old who is still living as a bachelor says he won’t rest until appeals in the case are disposed of.