Sister Abhaya (born Beena Thomas; ), a Knanaya Catholic sister, was found dead in a well filled with water in St Pius X Convent in Kottayam, India on 27 March 1992.Father of Sister Abhaya passes awayAbhaya case narco tests show confession of priests and nun Investigation into this death is by far the longest running murder investigation in the Kerala.

Abhaya was a member of St. Joseph's Congregation for religious sisters under the Knanaya Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam, a Knanaya metropolitan archeparchy of the Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala. The Kerala Police which investigated the case initially closed it with a theory of suicide. A case of unnatural death was registered based on a statement given by Sister Leissue, Mother Superior of the Convent.Abhaya case: Probe Agency On 13 April, the Crime Branch wing of state police took over the probe, and, on 30 January 1993, submitted a final report which tried to strengthen the suicide theory, with claims of psychological illness of the deceased. Following popular pressure and a legal battle launched by Jomon Puthenpurackal, a human-rights activist who established and led the "Sister Abhaya Case Action Council," the Kerala High Court transferred the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1993. The first team CBI failed to find the reason for the death. Upon the instruction of the court, a second-team was set up, which concluded that it was indeed a murder, but there was not enough evidence leading to the murderer(s). The conclusion of "homicide" was reached mainly based on the medical opinion given by three doctors, as against the opinion given by Dr C Radhakrishnan, who conducted an autopsy on the body of Abhaya. This report was also not accepted by the court.

As the court rejected the second final report, the CBI continued the probe under another officer, R R Sahay. In another final report on 25 August 2005, the CBI stated that "further investigation conducted, at the behest of the court, has not indicated involvement of any person in the death of Sister Abhaya" and a request was made that the "case be treated as closed as untraced." The court did not accept the probe and the investigation continued.

On 4 September 2008, the High Court handed over the investigation to the CBI's Kerala unit in Kochi. By then, the CBI had approached the judiciary to close the case four times for want of evidence. In early November 2008, the HC handed over the case to the state unit of CBI, and gave a three-month period to complete the probe. The new team, led by Dy SP Nandakumaran Nair, had recorded the statement of Sanju P Mathew, who had been residing next to the convent when Abhaya died. Sanju, in his statement as per Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, said he had seen Kottoor in the convent hostel campus on the night of 26 March 1992, a day before Abhaya was found dead. Based on this statement, the CBI on 19 November 2008, arrested Kottoor, Puthrikkayl and Sephy. On 22 December 2020, a special CBI court in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram delivered its verdict in the 28-year-old murder case as it held Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy guilty. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on 23 December 2020. In June 2022, both of them were granted bail and their life sentences were suspended by the High court till the disposal of their petition challenging the verdict of the trial court.

Sequence of events

Sister Abhaya was reported missing on the morning of 27 March 1992. She had woken at 4:00 am to study for exams, and was last known to have gone to the kitchen for a drink. The refrigerator door was left open, a bottle of water was spilt on the floor and a single slipper sat under the fridge – its pair was found beside the convent hostel's well. After a brief search, Sister Abhaya's body was found in the convent hostel's well in the early hours of the same day. Kottayam West Police Station upgraded their investigation to that of unnatural death. At 10:00 am the deceased was removed from the well by the fire department and an inquest was drawn up. A post-mortem conducted on the body by Dr Radhakrishnan of Government Medical College, Kottayam found abrasions on the right shoulder and hip and two small lacerations above the right ear. There was no sign of sexual assault. Despite the potentially significant injuries, the death was ruled a drowning.

The series of inquiries by various investigating bodies that followed was lengthy, convoluted and unsatisfactory, plagued by internal conflict, bitter rivalries and allegations of corruption and bias, compounded by pressure from many quarters to bring the case to conclusion. In April 1992 the Crime Branch of the CID took up the case, and months later ruled Sister Abhaya's death a suicide. However, the Crime Branch was alleged to have destroyed crucial material evidence potentially implicating homicide as a cause of death.

In April 1995, forensic medical experts Dr S K Pathak, Dr Mahesh Verma and Dr S R Singh conducted dummy experiments leading them to conclude cause of death to be homicide. Nevertheless, no arrests were made until November 2008. After years of failed investigations and internal struggles, two priests – Thomas Kottur, Jose Puthurukkayil and a nun – Sister Sephy – were arrested by the CBI under Nandan Kumar Nair on 19 November 2008. All three suspects were granted bail in early January 2009. On 17 July 2009, the three were charged with murder, defamation and destruction of evidence. Prosecutors alleged that Sister Abhaya had stumbled upon the two priests and one sister in a "compromising position" and had subsequently been attacked with an axe and dumped in the well.

After a 28-year-long investigation, on 22 December 2020, the CBI court found Fr. Kottoor and Sr. Sephy to be guilty of the murder of Sr. Abhaya. They were sentenced to life imprisonment on 23 December 2020.

Investigations

Action council An Action Council was convened by Jomon Puthenpurackal in 1992 demanding prosecution of those responsible for the murder of Abhaya.

67 nuns belonging to Abhaya's congregation petitioned the Chief Minister of Kerala to investigate the case as a homicide.Hema Order (2009), para. 34 On 7 April 1992, the Director general of police of Kerala directed the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police to take over the investigation from the local police. The Government of Kerala, on the basis of the petition, recommended a CBI enquiry. On 29 March 1993, CBI began a new investigation.

Kerala Police On 27 March 1992, Kottayam West Police Station ASI V V Augustine visited the crime scene and called the fire force to search for Abhaya's body in the well in the compound. The fire force removed the body from the well. An inquest was prepared by ASI Augustine. Photographs of the body were also taken. Clothing of Abhaya was taken into custody. Later these items of physical evidence were destroyed. The post-mortem report indicated death by drowning but also reported on the possibility of homicide based on head injuries.

On 7 April 1992, the Director general of police of Kerala directed the Crime Branch section of the Kerala police to take up the investigation. The Crime Branch submitted its report before the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) on 30 January 1993. The Crime Branch concluded that Abhaya had committed suicide. According to the post mortem report, she had died from drowning. Though there were allegations that the Crime Branch had procured the evidence in the case from the court and destroyed it, this was subsequently disproved by the CBI.

CBI On 29 March 1993, the FIR in the case was registered by the CBI. The CBI started investigating the death of Sister Abhaya under the direct supervision of its officer Varghese P. Thomas.

On 29 November 1996, the CBI issued the first final report.Hema Order (2009), para. 16 The author of the report, A.K. Ohri, stated that he could not determine whether Abhaya's death was suicide or homicide. The report was not accepted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court. On 9 July 1999, the CBI issued a second final report authored by Surinder Paul.Hema Order (2009), para. 17 Paul concluded that Abahya's death was a homicide, but he could not establish the identity of the perpetrators. Paul's report was also not accepted by the court. On 25 August 2005, the CBI issued yet another report, authored by R.R. Sahay.Hema Order (2009), para. 18 Sahay concluded that there was no indication that anyone was involved in Abhaya's death. The report was again not accepted. On 4 September 2008, the court turned the investigation over to the Kerala branch of the CBI.

Some of the initial manipulations in the case by the local police and crime branch, alleged by CBI are:-The inquest report did not indicate the homicidal injuries on the body of Abhaya.-The material evidence in the case was destroyed and the clothes were not subject to forensic examination-The photographs showing injuries on the body were removed.-The crime scene was tampered with or material physical evidence was not collected from the crime scene. During the initial inquiry, the post-mortem, chemical examination and laboratory report also had been erased and then rewritten due to other influence.

On 30 December 1993, Varghese P. Thomas resigned from the service of CBI and from the investigation of Abhaya's death. He had seven more years in service to retire. He had arrived at the conclusion that Abhaya's death was a case of murder and he had recorded it as such in the Case Diary. Subsequently, on 19 January 1994, he called a special press conference in Kochi and announced that he had resigned from CBI as his conscience did not permit him to comply with a strong directive given by his superior officer, V. Thyagarajan, the then Superintendent of CBI Kochi Unit, who had asked Varghese P. Thomas to record the death of Abhaya as suicide in the Case Diary. With this press conference, the case of Sr. Abhaya caught media attention all over India and the matter was strongly debated in the Parliament of India as well as in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on several occasions.

Writ Petition to Kerala High Court The Action Council filed another Writ petition in the Kerala High Court asking the court to remove V. Thyagarajan from Cochin Unit of the CBI as well as from the investigation. Further on 3 June 1994 all the MP's from Kerala jointly submitted a passionate petition to K. Vijayarama Rao, the Director of the CBI requesting him to disallow Thyagarajan to continue in the Abhaya's murder case. As a result, M.L. Sharma, the Joint Director of the CBI, was given charge of the investigation into Abhaya's death.

Cause of death Dr C Radhakrishnan, the forensic surgeon and former Principal of Government Medical College, Kottayam, who conducted the post-mortem on the body of the deceased Abhaya, had given the report as death by drowning. He later made a statement before the Magistrate on 1 January 2009. The crime branch did not allow him to visit the crime scene to form a definite opinion as to the cause of death. The explanation of the crime branch is that the case had been handed over to the state forensic chief Dr.B.Umadathan. Dr. Radhakrishnan noted six homicidal injuries on the body of the deceased.

Sr. Abhaya had the following ante-mortem injuries as per the post-mortem certificate issued by Dr. Radhakrishnan:

1. Lacerated wound 1.8x0.5x0.2 cm., oblique, on the right side of the back of head, the upper end being 3 cm above end 3 cm behind the top of ear.

2. Lacerated wound 1.5x0.5x0.3 cm, oblique, on the head 2.5 cm behind injury No.1.

3. Graze abrasion 4 x 3 cm., oblique on the right side of the back of trunk, 9 cm below the lower end of shoulder blade with an upward and inward direction.

4. Abrasion 1.5x1 cm., 2 cm below injury No.3.