Sister Abhaya murder case: Life sentences awarded to Fr Thomas Kottoor, Sister Sephy

The first accused Fr Thomas Kottoor has been awarded double life sentence and third accused Sister Sephy awarded life sentence.

The court also directed to pay a penalty of Rs 6.5 lakh by Fr Thomas Kottoor and Rs 5.5 lakh by Sister Sephy.

Special CBI Judge K Sanal Kumar who handed down the guilty verdict yesterday, heard the convicts on the sentence this morning before pronouncing the quantum of punishment.

The CBI Court which pronounced its verdict in Sister Abhaya murder case on Tuesday convicted two accused Sister Sephy and Father Thomas Kottoor in the case.

The court gave its verdict after 28 years of the case came to light as the trial of both the accused ended on December 10.

Sister Abhaya, a member of St. Joseph's Congregation for religious sisters under the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam, was found dead in a water well in St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. She was aged 18 years then who was studying pre-degree course.

The Kerala High Court directed the Kochi unit of the CBI to reinvestigate the case on November 1, 2008. Nine prosecution witnesses had turned hostile during the trial which started in August 2019.

The CBI found that Sister Abhaya saw the the accused in a compromising situation when she went to the kitchen of the convent. The accused got scared that Abhaya would reveal their affair and attacked her from behind with an axe. When the teenager lost consciousness, the accused took her body outside and threw it inside a well.

The local police which investigated the case initially closed it with a theory of suicide. The Crime Branch which took up the investigation later tried to strengthen the suicide theory, with claims of psychological illness of the deceased. On a writ petition, the High Court of Kerala transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

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 were not enough evidence leading to the murderer. Court installed a third team of CBI, and they finally found two priests and a sister responsible for the murder and arrested them on November 19, 2008.

The other accused in the case, Father Jose Poothrikkayil, was discharged by the CBI Court last year.

A former Crime Branch Special Branch official KT Micheal, an accused of destruction of evidence, was also discharged by the court last year.

An 'Action Council' formed by social activist Jomon Puthenpurackal had played a major role in seeking proper investigation in the case. During the trial of 28 years, as many as 177 witnesses died or turned hostile.