Abhaya Case: CBI IO in court on Aug 12

Kochi, Aug 5: The Kerala high court today directed the investigating officer (IO) of the CBI in the Sister Abhaya murder case to appear before it on August 12.

Justice V Ramakumar also directed the Central Forensic Laboratory at Bangalore to directly hand over to the court registrar before August 12 the original CD of the narco-analysis test conducted in connection with the case on two priests and one nun.

The high court also issued certain queries, to be answered in writing by the investigating officer on August 12.

These include the name of the officer who conducted the narco-analysis test; the doctor who posed the questions during the test; the day and time when it was held; upon which court's direction it was held; whether the officer who conducted the narco-analysis test knew Malayalam; and who conducted the brain mapping test.

The court also pointed out that even though it had directed that the original CD of the test be produced, this was not done by the CBI.

The court will again consider the matter on August 12.

Justice Ramakumar had yesterday observed that the CD submitted by the CBI appeared to be tampered with and also added that the narco-analysis test appeared to have been conducted without following the prescribed modalities.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Mr M Thomas, the father of the deceased nun, contending that the CBI was not conducting a proper investigation into the case.

The Abhaya Case assumed a serious turn last week when former CBI deputy superintendent of police Thomas P Varghese, who resigned from the agency alleging pressure on him to close the Sister Abhaya case as a suicide, told the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate that pressure had come from the office of then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao to hush up the matter.

The body of the 21-year-old nun was found in the well of St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. As per forensic reports, she had been sexually assualted before her death.

UNI