The Kerala High Court rapped the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday for making a "false statement" in court in the Sister Abhaya murder case and asked the central agency why the investigation should not be handed over to another agency.
Justice V Ramkumar, who heard the case, criticised the CBI for making a false statement over the number of CDs it received on the narco-analysis test reports of three suspects -- two priests and a nun.
The Forensic Science Laboratory director, Lal Mohan Choudhary, in his letter to the court, stated that three CDs have been sent to the CBI. However, the investigating agency reiterated its stand that they had received only one CD.
CBI Deputy Superintendent of Police R K Aggarwal, the investigating officer in the case, stated before the court that the agency had received only one CD from FSL on the tests.
Agarwal also handed over a covering letter dated October 23 last year, forwarding a single CD to the CBI.
The CBI had informed the court that it would leave 'no stone unturned to unravel the case and reiterated its stand that there was no interference from any quarter.
Sister Abhaya, an inmate of St Pius convent in Kottayam, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in March 1992. Her body was fished out from the well inside the convent.
Her father, M Thomas had filed a petition, seeking speedy investigation into his daughter's death. The petition has been reserved for orders.
The state police, which first investigated the case, came to the conclusion that the nun had committed suicide. The case was later handed over to the CBI by the high court.
The CBI filed three closure reports on Nov 29, 1996, Aug 25 2005 and Aug 21, 2006 before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, saying it was homicide. But there were not able to find the assailants.
The CBI had also informed the court that the nun had been murdered and though they had obtained 'sufficient clues' regarding the accused in the case, it was not sufficient to
arraign the suspects as accused.
