Sister Abhaya case: Defence side counters charges against Fr Kottoor

Thiruvananthapuram: The defence team has concluded the final arguments in the Sister Abhaya case at the CBI Special Court here.

The defence counsel on Wednesday contended that the alleged crime did not happen at the convent but at the convent hostel, where over 200 people, including students, stayed.

Sister Abhaya, a resident of Pius X convent in Kottayam in Kerala, was found dead in the well of the convent on March 27, 1992.

"As it was exam time, several students were awake for studies. Therefore, the contention that first accused Fr Thomas Kottoor was here till the morning is implausible. Also, it was said that Fr (Thomas) Kottoor confessed about his alleged relationship, said to be the reason that led to the crime, to (social worker) Kalarcode Venugopalan Nair. This argument that Fr Kottoor would make confessions to a person, with whom he had no prior acquaintance, the very first time he meets him, is also not believable," the defence counsel contended.

The reports, submitted by the CBI in the court in 1996, 1999 and 2005, stated that Fr Kottoor did not have a role in the case. The officials, who took over the probe in 2008, had arrested him.

"The CBI first questioned some of the main witnesses in the case only after the arrest of the accused. The statements of witness Raju should not be accepted as evidence," the defence counsel said.

Petty thief Raju, alias Adakka Raju, had claimed he had seen two men, including father Kottoor, on the night Sister Abhaya was found dead inside the well of St Pius X Convent. Raju had stated he was on the terrace of the convent around 3.30 am, trying to steal the copper parts of the lightning conductor installed there, when he saw two men going up and down a ladder in a stealthy manner.

The prosecution's rebuttal arguments will begin at the special CBI court on Thursday.

Initially, both the Crime Branch and the CBI had termed the death a suicide, but after activist Joemon Puthenpurackal formed an Action Council to pursue the case, a turnaround happened and the case was reopened and a few arrests were made.

As reported earlier, the CBI officer Nandakumaran Nair, who took over the investigation in November 2008 and in quick time recorded the arrest of the prime accused, had described the death of the nun as a case of "sex and murder".