Thiruvananthapuram: In a fresh turn to the Sr Abhaya case, the special CBI court on Monday directed the investigation team to arraign a former crime branch SP K.T. Michael as an accused. The former police officer, who was part of the investigation in the beginning, was arraigned on the charges of destroying evidence and conspiring to save other accused in the case. The direction comes in the wake of a petition filed by human rights activist Jomon Puthenpurackal before the court urging that those who had attempted to destroy evidence in the initial phase should also be arraigned as accused. The former SP now figures in the accused list along with Fr Thomas M. Koottur, Fr Dr Jose Poothrikkayil and Sr Stephy.
Sr Abhaya, a Catholic nun, was found dead in a well in St Pius convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. The probe into her death is one of the longest-running murder investigations in the state. While the Crime Branch that probed the case had concluded that Sr Abhaya had committed suicide, the CBI probe later found that it was a clear case of murder. The CBI had arrested Kottoor, Poothrikkayil and Sr Stephy on November 18, 2008, almost 16 years after the incident. The accused spent 49 days in jail.
The chargesheet filed by the CBI had stated that two men had trespassed into the convent and indulged in immoral activities which was seen by Sr Abhaya. This led to her murder. The case had taken several twists and turns during these years. V.V. Augustine, former additional sub-inspector, who had carried out the inquest on Sr Abhaya’s body, was found dead in a compound near his house in November 2008. After Abhaya’s death under mysterious circumstances, the local police had probed the case for a little over two weeks after which it was taken over by the Crime Branch which investigated the sensational murder for close to 10 months. The case was later taken over by the CBI.
