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Sister Abhaya (born Beena Thomas; (1971-02-26)February 26, 1971 – (1992-03-27)March 27, 1992), a Knanaya Catholic sister, was found dead in a well filled with water in St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. Investigation into this death is by far the longest running murder investigation in the State of Kerala.
Abhaya was a member of St. Joseph’s Congregation for religious sisters under the Knanaya Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam, Kerala. The local police which investigated the case initially closed it with a theory of suicide. A case of unnatural death was registered based on a statement given by Sister Leissue, Mother Superior of the Convent. On April 13, the Crime Branch wing of state police took over the probe, and, on January 30, 1993, submitted a final report which tried to strengthen the suicide theory, with claims of psychological illness of the deceased. Following popular pressure and a legal battle launched by Jomon Puthenpurackal, a human-rights activist who established and led the “Sister Abhaya Case Action Council,” the High Court of Kerala transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 1993. The first team of CBI failed to find the reason of death. Upon the instruction of the court, a second-team was set up, which concluded that it was indeed a murder, but there was not enough evidence leading to the murderer(s). The conclusion of “homicide” was reached mainly based on the medical opinion given by three doctors, as against the opinion given by Dr C Radhakrishnan, who conducted an autopsy on the body of Abhaya. This report was also not accepted by the court.
As the court rejected the second final report, the CBI continued the probe under another officer, R R Sahay. In another final report on August 25, 2005, the CBI stated that “further investigation conducted, at the behest of the court, has not indicated involvement of any person in the death of Sister Abhaya” and a request was made that the “case be treated as closed as untraced.” The court did not accept the probe and the investigation continued.
On September 4, 2008, the High Court handed over the investigation to the CBI’s Kerala unit in Kochi. By then, the CBI had approached the judiciary to close the case four times for want of evidence. In early November 2008, the HC handed over the case to the state unit of CBI, and gave a three-month period to complete the probe. The new team, led by Dy SP Nandakumaran Nair, had recorded the statement of Sanju P Mathew, who had been residing next to the convent when Abhaya died. Sanju, in his statement as per Section 164 of CrPC, said he had seen Kottoor in the convent hostel campus on the night of March 26, 1992, a day before Abhaya was found dead. Based on this statement, the CBI on November 19, 2008, arrested Kottoor, Puthrikkayl and Sephy.
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 Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy guilty. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on 23 December 2020.
In June 2022, both of them were granted bail and their life sentences were suspended by the High court till the disposal of their petition challenging the verdict of the trial court.