Case Study - Sister Abhaya Murder Case

SISTER ABHAYA MURDER CASE

Sister Abhaya was found dead on 27th March 1992 who was a nun at the Knanaya congregation and was a resident of Pius X convent in Kottayam. Her body was found in the well of the convent hostel.

After 28 years, a special CBI court convicted the murderers of sister Abhaya who were from the same church as that of Abhaya. Initially, there were three accused, i.e., Father Thomas Kottoor, Father Jose Poothrukayil, and Sister Sephy.

Incident

Abhaya and the accused belonged to the Knanaya Catholic Church, Kottayam. Abhaya was a 21-year-old, pre-degree student in the college which was run by Father Thomas. He was also the secretory to the Bishop and taught psychology. Sister Sephy also resided in the same convent hostel as Abhaya’s and was the de facto in-charge of the church.

Sister Abhaya was found dead in the well of her convent hostel on 27th March 1992. It was initially reported by the local police and the state crime branch that it is a case of suicide. But later after the investigation advanced, the case took turns and led to the conclusion that it was a case of Murder. It was also observed that in this due period of 28 long years, many witnesses turned hostile while only a mere thief came forward with his statement and it became troublesome for the accused.

A public activist Jomon Puthenpurackal managed to reopen this case after such a long time by forming an Action Council. It was later that the Kerala High court transferred this reopened case to the CBI for investigation.

Findings of CBI

The First CBI team failed to find out the cause of death. The second team was formed by the orders of the court which managed to find that it was indeed a case of murder but did not had sufficient proof that would lead to the perpetrators.

In 2007, (by this time the third CBI team was formed) all the three accused were subjected to Narco-analysis in the orders given by the court. It was followed by the arrest of all the 3 accused on 19 November 2008. The two Father priests and Sister Sephy were arrested and the charges of murder, destruction of evidence and criminal conspiracy on 17th July 2009 were imposed on them. But the Kerala High court found loopholes in the CBI’s investigation and many questions arose whether the narco-analysis reports and the forensic reports of Sister Abhaya’s swab examination were tempered.

As per the CBI reports, following findings were made-

• Sister Abhaya was a witness of the intimate relations between Father Thomas, Father Jose and Sister Sephy on 27th March 1992. Abhaya, from her hostel room, went to kitchen at around 4:15AM to have some water where she was last known to have visited. It was apparently sought that Sister Sephy panicked when Sister Abhaya accidentally intruded the kitchen and found the two accused, Father Thomas and Father Jose and Sister Sephy in a compromising position. It was then in the spur of moment, Sephy hit Sister Abhaya on the head with an axe. Later, all the accused collectively pushed Abhaya into the well while she was still alive.

• The primary crime scene was traced when a bottle of water spilled on the floor and a single slipper under the fridge in the kitchen were found.

• The door of the refrigerator was left ajar (slightly open).

• Abhaya’s body was found in the convent hostel well.

Postmortem examination

• The Kottayam West police station reported the case to be an unnatural death case.

• The body was rescued by the fire-force at around 10 AM from the well.

• The body was sent to Kottayam Medical College and the postmortem was performed by Dr. Radhakrishnan. 

Following PM findings:

i) Abrasions on the right shoulder and hip

ii) Two minor lacerations above right ear.

iii) No sign of sexual harassment.

• The death was ruled as drowning.

• Father Jose was exonerated by the court since no evidence where found against him.

Statement of the thief

The thief, Adakka Raju, broke into the compound of Pius X convent to steal copper plates from the terrace on 27th March 1992. He was waiting to scale the wall while he sat on a cocoa tree and he noticed the two Father priests, Thomas and Jose, climbing the stairway on the rear side of the convent hostel.

Many years later, Raju was able to identify one of the accused from the newspapers, i.e., Father Thomas, the first accused, he saw at the night of 27th March 1992. Many obstacles came in Raju’s way so as to shut him down by giving off huge amounts of money and also the officials tortured him to confess the crime that he did not commit. Raju did not give up and it was on 23rd December 2020, his statement paid off when the Kerala Court found Father Thomas and Sister Sephy guilty.

Verdict

28-years later, on 22nd December, 2020, a special CBI court in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram carried through a verdict that found Father Thomas Kottoor & Sister Sephy guilty.

• Father Thomas was found guilty of murder (section 302 IPC), destruction of evidence (section 201 IPC) and causing grievous hurt while trespassing (section 459 IPC).

• Sister Sephy was found guilty of murder and destruction of evidence under the section 302 and 201 IPC, respectively.

• 23rd December 2020, Father Thomas and Sister Sephy were sentenced to life imprisonment. They were imposed by a fine of ₹ 5 lakh each.

i) Father Thomas was further imposed an additional life imprisonment and fine of ₹ 1 lakh.

ii) Both of them were also been imposed by 7-year imprisonment and a fine of ₹ 50,000 each.

All these sentences will run concurrently.