The Shocking Crime That Was Taboo in the Indian Church

Sister Abhaya was murdered by two priests and a nun after she caught all three of them together in a compromising position

Sister Abhaya was born in 1973 in Kerala, India. Growing up, she was close to her older brother, Biju Thomas, who described his sister as being introverted and not very talkative. However, she always had a desire to help people. She also wanted to dedicate her life to Christ and learn the scriptures and the best way to do that was to become a nun.

Although her family was hesitant about her decision to become a nun, she remained firm.

At the age of 18, Abhaya became a nun and a member of the Knanaya Catholic Church which was headquartered in Kerala. Sadly, she would not remain a nun for long.

On March 27, 1992, Abhaya was found drowned inside a well located on the convent hostel premises that she shared with 20 other nuns.

Initially, Abhaya’s death was ruled to be a suicide but after an in-depth investigation that took place over 28 years, it was confirmed that Abhaya was murdered.

How was Abhaya murdered and why did it take so long for her killers to be brought to justice?

The murder of Sister Abhaya

On the night of March 27, 1992, Abhaya woke up at 4 am to study for an exam. She was a pre-degree student in a college run by the church and was staying at the St. Pius X Convent Hostel. The convent and hostel were managed and run by an older nun, Sister Sephy.

Sometime during the night, Abhaya decided to go down to the kitchen of the hostel to grab a cup of cold water from the fridge. When Abhaya entered the kitchen, she saw two priests, Father Thomas Kottoor and Father Jose Puthrikkayl in a compromising position with Sister Sephy, the hostel manager.

The next sequence of events is based on circumstantial evidence and the eyewitness account of a petty thief who had slipped into the convent at the time of the murder.

It was determined that Abhaya was killed by the two priests and the nun who were having a threesome dalliance in the kitchen. They murdered her because they were afraid that she would reveal their secret.

In the Indian Catholic Church, the convent is sacred and it is a place where the presence of men is completely and unequivocally banned. The mere presence of the two male priests inside the convent and their relationship with Sister Sephy would have been taboo.

The two priests and the nun panicked. The murder took place with Father Kottoor strangling Abhaya while Sister Sephy struck Abhaya on the head with an axe meant for chopping firewood. Abhaya suffered critical injuries and it was later shown that her head injuries were consistent with the blades of an axe.

While Abhaya was still alive, her killers threw her into a well located on the convent’s grounds. By throwing her body into the well, they wanted to erase any evidence of her injuries and make it appear that her injuries and death were sustained from falling into the well.

When police arrived, the crime scene was a mess and there was proof that a tussle had taken place. A spilled water bottle lay fallen near the fridge. The nun’s veil worn by Abhaya was found underneath a door leading to the outside. The ax used as a murder weapon was found in the kitchen and two slippers worn by Abhaya were found at different places in the kitchen. However, there was no blood to be found anywhere.

Investigation and arrest

When Abhaya’s body was first discovered inside the well, the case was investigated by the local Kerala police and they ruled it to be drowning by suicide. However, the Mother Superior of the convent, Sister Leissue, registered a statement with the police to claim that it was an unnatural death.

A group of 65 nuns banded together to submit a complaint to the Chief Minister of Kerala alleging that Abhaya was murdered and that the case was not being investigated properly.

A year after the murder, the investigation was transferred to the CBI (India’s version of the FBI). The CBI accepted that Abhaya’s death was a homicide based on medical evidence. Still, the investigation moved very slowly and they were nowhere close to arresting the murderers.

Finally, the CBI attempted to close the case stating that they could find no “involvement of any person in the death of Sister Abhaya.” However, India’s High Court would not accept the conclusion and requested that a new probe into the case be initiated.

In 2008, an eyewitness revealed that Father Kottoor was seen inside the convent hostel. This led to the arrests of Father Kottoor, Father Puthrikkayl, and Sister Sephy. They allegedly confessed to the murder while they were held by the CBI. They were released on bail a year to await their verdict while the case proceeded in court.

Conclusion

Abhaya’s murder took 28 long years to be resolved and became the longest-running murder investigation in the state of Kerala. It turned out to be an inefficient investigation due to politics, bureaucracy, and corruption.

There were reports that officials bribed and tortured the eyewitness who had seen the priests enter the convent to get him to confess to the crime instead of laying the crime on the priests and the nun.

Additionally, Sister Sephy tried to hide evidence of her illicit relationship with the priests by undergoing hymenoplasty surgery to restore her virginity. Her surgery was discovered by the prosecution and the court was informed.

Finally, on December 22, 2020, Father Kottoor and Sister Sephy were found guilty f murder and destruction of evidence. However, Father Puthrikkayl was discharged because they could find no evidence that would stick.

Father Kaottoor and Sister Sephy have been sentenced to life in prison.

Sources: India Today, Indian Express, The Print, Wikipedia, BizGlob

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