Sister Abhaya murder case: 28 years after killing 19-year-old, Kerala priest and nun get life imprisonment
Father Thomas Kotoor and Sister Sephy was granted life imprisonment for murdering Sister Abhaya, whose dead body was found inside a well. CBI court pronounces verdict in the sister Abhaya murder case; holds both accused Fr Thomas Kottoor & nun Sr Sephy as guilty (Image Source: ANI)
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Updated: Dec 23, 2020, 06:59 PM IST
In a March 1992 case, a special court of the CBI on Wednesday sentenced life imprisonment to a priest and a nun for the murder of a 19-year-old Sister Abhaya. This crime had been a part of Kerala s news cycle ever since the Catholic nun s body was found inside a well at a convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992.
Sister Abhaya murder case verdict: 28 years later, both accused found guilty
The verdict in the case came 28 years after Sister Abhaya, a 19-year-old Catholic nun, was murdered and her body dumped inside the well of a convent in Kerala s Kottayam. Updated: December 22, 2020 2:41:48 pm
Sister Abhaya’s body was found in the well of the St Pius Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992.
A special CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday has found Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy guilty in the murder case of Catholic Sister Abhaya. The verdict came 28 years after Sister Abhaya, a 19-year-old Catholic nun,
was murdered and her body dumped inside the well of a convent in Kerala’s Kottayam.
Hours after the order was passed, the two accused, charged under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) and on bail since 2009, were sent back to jail.
The CBI had named another priest, Father Jose Puthrikkayl, as the second accused but the court allowed his discharge petition before the trial, which began last year, citing lack of evidence.
“I had been waiting for this day. Truth has the final victory. I have been praying for the soul of my sister to get justice,’’ said Abhaya’s brother Biju Thomas, who is employed in the Middle East. Abhaya’s parents, Thomas Aikkarakunnel and Leelamma, died in 2016.