Speaking to reporters at his residence in Pathanamthitta, former CBI DSP, Varghese P Thomas, couldn’t hide his tears. “Tears of joy,” he told journalists gathered there following the court’s verdict in the Sister Abhaya murder case. Thomas was an investigating officer in the first team of the CBI which took up the case in 1993.
On January 1, the next year, Thomas quit as CBI DSP alleging harassment from the then SP, V Thyagarajan.
Thomas, who convened a news conference in Kochi then, alleged that there was pressure on him to conclude the case as a suicide, but he stood by his finding that the case was one of homicide.
The events that followed led to Thomas applying for VRS. He alleged that Thyagarajan demanded he conclude the case as one of suicide, in line with the findings of the crime branch which had probed the case earlier.
The version of the crime branch was that Abhaya committed suicide, as she had scored only seven marks out of 100 in a first year pre-degree examination.
“I had 10 years of service remaining and would have retired as DIG,” he said adding that he has no regret in quitting.
“I can’t do anything against my conscience,” he said.
“I have stood for truth and had to pay a heavy price for that. Finally, truth triumphed,” Thomas said.
During the trial, he deposed as a prosecution witness and detailed his findings and the pressure he had to face from within the investigating agency before the CBI court.