Daijiworld Media Network – Thiruvananthapuram (SB)

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 11: After a 27-year gap, the controversial and widely debated Sr Abhaya murder case has re-emerged to become a hot topic of discussion all over the state. After initial setback suffered in the form of two crucial witness turning hostile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) prosecution appears to be having a firm grip on the case. There are a few crucial witnesses in the case who had testified against the accused, who still stand firmly by their earlier statements. The movement of prosecution indicates chances of another round of heated debate on the issue in the church of Kerala.

Raju alias Adakka Raju, who happens to be the only living eyewitness for the incident, has testified before the court that he had seen two men including Fr Thomas Kottoor, the first accused in the case, at St Pius X Convent compound in the wee hours of March 27, 1992 when Sr Abhaya was found dead in the convent well.

Sr Abhaya

Fr Kottoor (left) and Sr Sephy

“I was making an attempt to steal copper equipment of the lightening conductor installed atop the convent building. Earlier too I had stolen a major part of the components from the said spot. On the third day, I reached there for stealing the remaining things. It was midnight. I saw two men who were walking up the stairs and surveying the surroundings with the help of a torch light. I identified one of them as Fr Kottoor and I had never seen the other one, who was tall, before. In view of their presence there, I abandoned the plan to commit theft and left from there,” Adakka Raju told the CBI special court.

Earlier, Raju had identified Fr Kottoor and Fr Jose Puthrakkayil in an identification parade after the arrest of the accused in the case in 2008. But last year, Fr Jose Puthrakkayil was discharged from this case by the CBI special court and instructed Fr Kottoor and Sr Sefi to face trial. Despite sharp questioning and prolonged cross examination by the defense lawyer, a part time thief, Raju, did not waver from his sworn statement earlier that he had seen the two persons including Fr Kottoor on the night Sr Abhaya was found dead.

Turning emotional, Raju also levelled serious allegations against the crime branch team of officials which had initially probed the case. He claimed that they kept him in custody for 58 days and put pressure on him to own up the crime. They offered him good education for children and a decent job for wife in exchange for confessing to the crime of which he was not part of. He was brutally tortured in custody in a bid to convince him to take the crime upon himself. But at the last moment another person landed up in the custody and he informed Raju to seek remedy from the court.

Kalarkode Venugopalan Nair, a social worker and seventh witness in the case who was retried before the CBI Special court repeated what he had told the CBI a few years ago. “Based on an article published in a Malayalam daily. I tried to contact Fr Kottoor. He invited to me for a chat with me and I went to Bishop's House to meet him. On that occasion, I saw a person who was near the the entrance to Bishop's House. It was only later, after the arrests, I realized it was Fr Jose Puthrakkayil.

According to Venugopalan, Fr Kottoor looked like having been very agitated that day. “He pulled at his cassock and told me that he was a raw human being inside. I am not made stone and iron, he told me," Venugopalan stated, duly adding that the priest admitted that he had a relationship with Sr Sephy who is the third accused in the case . Venugopalan also told the court that Fr Kattoor was so emotionally fragile that day in 2008 that he even confessed to the crime.

Prof Tresiyamma, the teacher of Sr Abhaya at B C M College and another important witness in the case, also stood strong by her earlier statement. She testified that Fr Kottoor and Fr Puthrakkayil were both directly involved with the said murder. “Many times the students of the collage complained about the behaviour of both these priests. They narrated that many times the priests misbehaved with the girls in class rooms. After hearing the news of Abhaya's death I rushed to the spot. Fr Putrakkayil was there and he showed me the dead body. After that, on behalf of the accused, I came under pressure to turn into a hostile witness.” said Prof Tresiyamma to the court.

M M Thomas, who was the head constable in 2008 at Kottayam west police station, testified against V V Augustine, the then assistant sub-inspector of his police station. According to him, Augustine instructed him to tear off the original inquest report and write a new one with the help of constable Sakariya. The witness also identified the signature of V V Augustine and Sakariya on inquest report. According to him the allies of Fr Kottoor and Fr Puthrakkayil influenced V V Augustine to close this case by treating this to be an accidental death.

“As per instructions I took ten photographs of the dead body of Sr Abhaya. I noticed that there were deep scratches in her neck. The church officials strictly instructed me not to handover the photographs to the press and others,” said Varghese, the photographer and the 20thwitness in the case, in his testimony before the court.

On March 27, 1992, Sr Abhaya was found dead in the well of St Pius Convent compound. Local police investigated the case in its initial stages and Crime Branch took over the investigation thereafter. As per the request of state government CBI took over the investigation on March 29, 1993. After preliminary investigation CBI filed case against Fr Thomas M Kottoor, Fr Jose Puthrakkayil and Sr Sephy. On July 17, 2009, the investigation team filed charge sheet in CBI Special court. In 2011 the accused applied, seeking discharge of their names from the case.