On the morning of Mr Abhaya’s death, Raju had broken into the convent grounds to steal something when he saw the priests.
Two roommates, two fellow nuns, a senior nun, two cooks, and a neighbor: These people had some information about how 19-year-old Sister Abhaya landed dead in the well of her convent in Kottayam, Kerala, on 27 March 1992. Although their statements significantly helped the prosecution to build a case, these eight witnesses turned hostile and changed their statements given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in court. Although these witnesses became hostile under pressure or by accepting bribes, there were many witnesses who never changed their accounts. Indeed, in the face of mounting pressure and threats, some unlikely and crucial witnesses maintained their testimony in the CBI special court in Thiruvananthapuram, as the trial in the 27-year-old case began in August 2019.
Adakka Raju, a thief; Thresiamma, a former professor at BCM College for Women in Kottayam (where Sister Abhaya was a student); Dr. Lalithambika, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Alappuzha Faculty of Medicine; and Dr. P Rema, director of forensic medicine at Alappuzha Medical College, are among them. The statements of these witnesses, according to CBI prosecutor M Navas, were strong enough to prove the murder case and convict the two defendants, Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy.
Adakka Raju, thief and main witness
One person whose statement was perhaps the most crucial was Adakka Raju, a petty thief who stole areca nuts and is the main witness to Abhaya’s murder. In his statement to the CBI, which took over the investigation in 1993 (after the Crimes Section concluded that it was a suicide case), Raju said that he had seen Fr. Thomas M. Kottoor and José Poothrikkayil climb the ladder in the rear of the building. convent in the early hours of the day the crime was committed. On the morning of Mr Abhaya’s death, Raju had broken into the convent grounds to steal something when he saw the priests.
When the trial began in August 2019, on the third day, Raju told the court that the Crimes Section had pressured him to ‘confess to the crime he never committed’. According to his statement during the trial, officials from the Crimes Section had asked him to admit to having committed the murder and that his family would receive 2 lakh rupees if he admitted it.
However, during the year-long trial, Raju stood by his position and testified in court what he had told CBI detectives. Immediately after the sentence was handed down, Raju told the media that he was happy that his son was able to get justice and that he would get drunk with joy.
Thresiamma, teacher of Sr Abhaya
Sister Abhaya was a second-year undergraduate student at BCM College for Women in Kottayam. The convict, Father Thomas Kottoor, was Sister Abhaya’s teacher, who taught psychology at the university. Father José Poothrikkayil, a priest who was initially charged in the case but later discharged due to lack of evidence, was also a professor in the university’s Malayalam department. However, according to his former colleague and Malayalam teacher Thresiamma, the two men were known for their “predatory behavior” that made their female students uncomfortable. Father Thomas Kottoor used to stare at his feet, Thresiamma, who was Sister Abhaya’s teacher, told the court.
During the court trial, the former teacher said she saw a wound mark on the upper lip and near Sister Abhaya’s nose when she saw the body. He also stated that Fr. José Poothrikkayil “acted as if he were the caretaker of the convent” after his death.
Father Thomas Kottoor was reportedly then private secretary to Bishop Kuriakose Kunnassery, who, according to Thresiamma, was working on behalf of the convict, as the bishop (who died later) had given him all the help.
According to Thresiamma, she, like other witnesses, faced threats not to testify in court. “Some people with considerable influence threatened the witnesses with destroying their family. But they knew that I would not retract my statements. Why should I fear? That’s why I told the court the truth, ”he told the media last year.
Watch: Thresiamma speaks to the media after testifying in court
Dr. Lalithambika and Dr. Rema
Dr. Lalithambika Karunakaran (witness number 29) and Dr. P Rema (witness number 19) were part of the two-member medical team that examined the then defendant, Sister Sephy, in 2008. In their findings, the medical team stated that Ms Sephy had undergone hymenoplasty, a procedure to repair the hymen. As a result, the two doctors told the court that, “There was no need for a nun, who is a virgin, to undergo hymenoplasty / surgical interference. The only reason for such corrective surgery is to hide the evidence of her ruptured hymen due to frequent vaginal intercourse. ” These and other findings were controversial even when they were deposed in court and called “crude and ignorant.”
However, the findings of the medical team gained importance as the CBI, in its charge sheet, had stated that Sister Abhaya had found Father Thomas Kottoor, Father José Poothrikkayil and Sister Sephy in a compromising position near the kitchen when the young victim went for a drink. Water. They killed Mr Abhaya for fear that she would expose them.
(With input from Sreedevi Jayarajan)
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