Sister Abhaya murder case

Sister Abhaya (born Beena Thomas; February 26, 1971 – 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.

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.

Sister Abhaya was reported missing on the morning of 27 March 1992.

She had woken at 4:00 am to study for exams, and was last known to have gone to the kitchen for a drink.

The refrigerator door was left open, a bottle of water was spilt on the floor and a single slipper sat under the fridge – its pair was found beside the convent hostel's well.

After a brief search, Sister Abhaya's body was found in the convent hostel's well in the early hours of the same day.

Kottayam West Police Station upgraded their investigation to that of unnatural death.

At 10:00 am the deceased was removed from the well by the fire force and an inquest was drawn up.

A post-mortem conducted on the body by Dr Radhakrishnan of Kottayam Medical College found abrasions on the right shoulder and hip and two small lacerations above the right ear.

There was no sign of sexual assault.

Despite the potentially significant injuries, the death was ruled a drowning.

The series of inquiries by various investigating bodies that followed was lengthy, convoluted and unsatisfactory, plagued by internal conflict, bitter rivalries and allegations of corruption and bias, compounded by pressure from many quarters to bring the case to conclusion.

In April 1992 the Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department took up the case, and months later ruled Sister Abhaya's death a suicide.

However, the Crime Branch was alleged to have destroyed crucial material evidence potentially implicating homicide as a cause of death.

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 April 1995, forensic medical experts Dr S K Pathak, Dr Mahesh Verma and Dr S R Singh conducted dummy experiments leading them to conclude cause of death to be homicide.

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.

Based on this statement, the CBI on November 19, 2008, arrested Kottoor, Puthrikkayl and Sephy.

Nevertheless, no arrests were made until November 2008.

After years of failed investigations and internal struggles, two priests – Thomas Kottur, Jose Puthurukkayil and a nun – Sister Sephy – were arrested by the CBI under Nandan Kumar Nair on 19 November 2008.

All three suspects were granted bail in early January 2009.

On 17 July 2009, the three were charged with murder, defamation and destruction of evidence.

Prosecutors alleged that Sister Abhaya had stumbled upon the two priests and one sister in a "compromising position" and had subsequently been attacked with an axe and dumped in the well.

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.