CJM grants time to CBI on Abhaya case

Kochi, May 2 (UNI) The Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) today granted time till May 7 for the CBI to file its probe report in the Sister Abhaya case.

The CBI gave an application for one week's time on the grounds that the investigating officer was out of station.

However, the Court observed that ''these were delay tactics'' by the CBI.

The Court had on Monday asked the investigating agency to file the report today after it dismissed the CBI's application, seeking one month's time to submit its report regarding the steps taken on the basis of an anonymous letter handed over to them by the Magistrate.

The letter contained the allegation that the Chief Chemical Examiner's work book was found tampered with.

The Sister Abhaya case had shot into the limelight following media reports that the chemical tests of vaginal swab and smear conducted on the body of the 21-year-old nun had been tampered with.

The nun's body was found in the well at the Pius Tenth Convent, Kottayam, on March 27, 1992.

According to a petition submitted by Joemon Puthenpurackal, former convenor of the Sister Abhaya Action Committee, before the CJM court, Thiruvananthapuram, there was a criminal conspiracy, followed by tampering of evidence, that resulted in turning a rape and murder case into a suicide.

UNI