Court orders probe over missing evidence in nun´s murder

Published Date: June 25, 2009

A court in Kerala has ordered an investigation after it was told that prime evidence in a nun´s murder case is missing.

The evidence is three compact disks used to record the confessions of two priests and a nun accused of murdering Sister Abhaya 17 years ago. The original disks are missing.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India´s top investigating agency, arrested Father Thomas Kottoor, 62, Father Jose Poothrukayil, 57, and Sister Sephy, 47, in November 2008 on the basis of this evidence. The three were released on conditional bail Jan. 1.

The CBI claims it has enough evidence to prove the three had murdered Sister Abhaya to conceal a sexual escapade. Investigators say Sister Sephy hit Sister Abhaya with an axe and the three accused then dumped the nun´s body into the well at her Pius X Convent in Kottayam.

Sister Abhaya´s body was found on March 27, 1992. She and the arrested nun, both members of the local Sisters of St. Joseph congregation, resided at the convent.

The case resurfaced in mid June after the murdered nun´s father complained that someone had tampered with copies of the original CDs to destroy evidence against the priests and nun.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Ernakulam who heard the case had asked a Kerala government lab to test these CDs. The lab found them tampered with and edited. The court then asked for the original CDs but was told they were missing.

It then asked for an explanation from the doctor who conducted truth drug tests on the priests and the nun last October. The doctor is already under suspension for tampering in another case.

According to A.X. Varghese, lawyer for Sister Abhaya´s father, the court had examined the CD copies given by the laboratory in the presence of lawyers and CBI officials.

Thomas Aykkarakunnel, Sister Abhaya´s father, said he filed his recent complaint as he feared the tampering would destroy vital evidence against the accused. Investigators had used truth drugs in their interrogations of the three.

Varghese said the 32-minute CD on Father Kottoor´s drug-induced testimony has been edited in 30 places, Father Poothrukayil´s 25-minute CD has 19 edits and Sister Sephy´s 19-minute CD has 23 edits. “It´s clear that this tampering of evidence was carried out by laboratory authorities to save the accused,” he charged.

Udaya Bhanu, Father Kottoor´s lawyer, on the other hand, said he questioned the authenticity of drug-induced tests on his client. “Even after seven months, the CBI has not filed a charge sheet against the accused. It shows it has no evidence against the accused,” he said.

Jaya Shankar, a High Court lawyer who claims to have keenly followed the case, says without the original CDs the case would be weak and the accused could be set free easily.

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