Kerala Pastor, nun found guilty in Sister Abhaya murder case

Sister Abhaya. Justice at last!

Sister Abhaya was found murdered on March 27, 1992. Her body was found floating in a well in St. Pius X Convent in Kottayam, Kerala. Investigation into this death case is by far the longest running murder investigation in Kerala.

After the CBI Special Court Judge Sanal Kumar pronounced the verdict on Tuesday, 29 years after the 19-year-old Sister Abhaya was murdered, both the guilty were remanded to the jail. Father Thomas Kottoor was sent to Poojappura prison, and Sister Sephy was remanded to Attakkulangara women’s prison in Kerala.

The probe headed by then CBI Kochi unit DSP Nandakumar Nair concluded that Abhaya's was a cold-blooded murder committed by two priests and a nun to cover-up their illicit relationship. 

The 19-year-old Catholic nun, a member of the St Joseph's Congregation, was a pre-degree student at BCM College in Kottayam when the incident happened. The local police and the Crime Branch had termed the incident as suicide and it took four CBI probes and a series of judicial interventions to cast away the suicide theory.

The CBI finding was that Abhaya had gone to the kitchen of the convent for fetching water and happened to see Father Thomas Kottoor, Father Jose Poothrikkayil and Sister Sephy in a compromising position.

Fearing for their reputation, Sephy bludgeoned Abhaya with an axe and threw her into the well with the help of Thomas Kottoor and Jose Poothrikkayil.

The Abhaya murder case created uproar in the Catholic Church. The Church authorities tried to shield the accused pastor and the nun and maintained that the CBI allegations and arrest of the priest and the nun were deliberate attempt to damage the reputation and image of the Church. The Church even tried to mobilize the faithful against what it described as CBI’s “highhandedness”.

The case had political ramifications too. It was rumored that a senior politician of Kerala went out of the way to sabotage the investigations. But the efforts of the Abhaya Case Action Council, a body formed by social activists stood up against the Church questioning the suicide theory and pressurized the government for a CBI probe.

The CBI investigations revealed that the state police had deliberately destroyed key evidence such as Abhaya’s robe and diary. The action council remains vigilant even after the probe was taken over by the CBI and ensured that the investigation remained on the right track.

Apart from the nature of the case, the lengthy legal procedures also made the case a notable one. The CBI chargesheeted the accused in 2009 and, two years later, the accused moved a discharge petition in the court. This plea took nine years to reach a conclusion as the court discharged Father Jose Poothrikkayil while rejecting the petitions of the other two.

The trial in the case started at the CBI court in August 2019 and the accused later requested to stall the proceedings citing COVID scare. However, this plea was junked by the court. The prosecution had produced 49 witnesses in the court.