28 years later, verdict in Sister Abhaya murder case.

Both accused found guilty by CBI in Sister Abhaya murder case.

On March 27, 1992 sister Abhaya, a 19-year-old catholic nun was murdered and her body was dumped inside the well of the Pious X convent in Kerala’s Kottayam. Nearly after three decades, the special CBI court pronounced Father Thomas Kottor, 69, and Sister Sephy, 55, guilty in the murder case on Tuesday in Thiruvananthapuram.

Initially the case was investigated by state crime branch. On January 30, 1993, they concluded that Sister Abhaya’s death was a suicide case. Later on March 23, 1993, the case was transferred to CBI after human right activist Jomon Puthenpuracakal followed a legal battle. Three people were accused in the crime Father Thomas Kottoor, Sister Sephy and Father Jose Puthrikkayl, who was acquitted by a CBI trial court in 2018. However the discharge petitions were rejected of other two- Kottoor and Sephy.

Sister Abhaya was a second-year-pre-degree student of BCM college, Kottayam where Father Thomas Kottor was a priest and taught her psychology. He was arrested in 2008 along with Sister Sephy who was in-charge of the hostel where Sister Abhaya stayed. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Sister Abhaya witnessed the trio in a ‘compromising’ position when she went to the kitchen to drink water. Fearing that she might reveal their relationship and they would be outed before the church, the accuses, in a fit of rage, allegedly hit her with an axe and threw her body into the well to cover-up the crime.

177 witnesses were present before the court, several of which have either died or turned hostile among which Jomon Purthenpurackal, a human right activist is the lone surviving member of the panel that fought for justice. Kottoor and Sephy are booked under Section 302 (murder) and Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The quantum of sentence will be delivered tomorrow by special CBI Judge K Sanal Kumar.