Kerala nun rape case: Bishop Mulakkal appears before SIT for questioning

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 19: Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun, appeared for questioning before the special investigation team of the Kerala police in Thrippunithura on Wednesday.

Ernakulam range IG Vijay Sakhare reviewed the progress in the probe with Kottayam district police chief Hari Sankar and investigation officer Subhash, who is also deputy superintendent of police of Vaikom in Kottayam before commencing the interrogation Wednesday morning.

Mulakkal filed an anticipatory bail petition in the Kerala High Court. He claimed the allegations levelled against him were "wholly concocted and cooked up only to wreak vengeance for the actions taken by him on various complaints received against her", PTI reported.

The 54-year-old bishop claimed that the allegations levelled by the nun, serving in a congregation under the Jalandhar Diocese, is "wholly concocted and cooked up only to wreak vengeance" for the actions taken by him on various complaints received against her.

The case

A nun belonging to the Catholic congregation of Missionaries of Jesus in Jalandhar filed a police complaint against Bishop Franco Mulakkal in June alleging that he raped and subjected her to unnatural sex 13 times since 2014 at a convent in Kuravilangad.

Accusing the bishop of sending lewd messages and obscene pictures over the phone, the nun said she had also informed Cardinal George Alancherry, the head of the Kochi-based Syro-Malabar Church about the alleged abuse.

Alencherry has claimed that the nun had talked about the "torture" at the congregation, but did not mention sexual abuse. As the Church took no action, the nun approached the police.