Sister Abhaya was found dead in a water well in St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on 27 March 1992. Investigation into this death is by far the longest running murder investigation in the State of Kerala. Two priests – Thomas Kottur, Jose Puthurukkayil and a nun – Sister Sephy – were arrested by the Crime Branch on 19 November 2008. The three were charged with murder, defamation and destruction of evidence. On 22 December 2020, a special CBI court in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram delivered its verdict.
About Sister Abhaya murder case in brief
Sister Abhaya was found dead in a water well in St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on 27 March 1992. Investigation into this death is by far the longest running murder investigation in the State of Kerala. Two priests – Thomas Kottur, Jose Puthurukkayil and a nun – Sister Sephy – were arrested by the Crime Branch on 19 November 2008. The three were charged with murder, defamation and destruction of evidence. On 22 December 2020, a special CBI court in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram delivered its verdict in the 28-year-old murder case as it held two priests and a sister guilty of murder. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on 23 December 2020. After a 28 year-long investigation, on 22nd December 2020 the CBI court found Fr. Kottoor and Sr. Sephy to be guilty of the murder of Sr. AbHaya. The case is one of the most high-profile murder cases in the history of the state of Kerala, and has been the subject of numerous books and films. The local police which investigated the case initially closed it with a theory of suicide. The Crime Branch which took up the investigation later tried to strengthen the suicide theory, with claims of psychological illness of the deceased. The High Court of Kerala transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1993. On 29 March 1993, CBI began a new investigation into the death of Sister Abhayan. An Action Council was convened by Jomon Puthenpurackal, a human-rights activist who established and led the “SisterAbhaya Case Action Council”, demanding prosecution of those responsible for the murder.
On the basis of the petition, the Chief Minister of the Kerala State Government ordered a CBI enquiry into the case as a homicide. On 7 April 1992, the Director General of the Police of Kerala directed the crime branch to take over the investigation. In April 1992 the Crime branch of the Criminal Investigation Department took up the case, and months later ruled the death a suicide. However, in April 1995, forensic medical experts Dr S K Pathak, Dr Mahesh Verma and Dr S R Singh conducted dummy experiments leading them to conclude that homicide could not be ruled out. No arrests were made until November 2008, and the three suspects were granted bail in early January 2009. On 17 July 2009, charges of murder, and Destruction of evidence were filed against the three. The trio were found guilty and sentenced to death on 22 December 2008, on 17 December 2009, and 17 December 2010, and 23 December 2010 respectively. The trial is expected to last until the end of the year at the Kerala High Court in Kozhikode, where the verdicts will be delivered on December 23, 2020. For confidential support on suicide matters call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details on how to get in contact with Samaritans.
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This page is based on the article Sister Abhaya murder case published in Wikipedia (as of Jan. 01, 2021) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
