Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 21 (IANS): Finally, after 28 years of the infamous Sister Abhaya 'murder' case, a CBI special court here will deliver its verdict on Tuesday.

Facing trial in the case are Catholic priest Thomas M.Kottur (first accused) and Nun Seffi (third accused) among others.

The second accused in the case -- another Catholic priest Jose Poothrikkayil, however, has been discharged by this court in 2018.

Abhaya, an inmate of Pius X convent in Kottayam, was found dead in the well of the convent on March 27, 1992.

The case has dragged on with initially both the Crime Branch and the CBI dismissing it as a suicide, however, public activist Joemon Puthenpurackal formed an Acton Council and pursued the case.

The turnaround in the case happened after Puthenpurackal, managed to get the case reopened, following which the 13th batch of CBI officials cracked the case and on November 19, 2008.

They arrested the three accused, including Poothrikkayil, a former Malayalam professor at the Kottayam college where Abhaya studied; Kottor, the Diocesan chancellor of the Catholic Church at Kottayam and Seffi, a resident of the convent when the incident took place.

On January 1, 2009, though all three accused got bail.