Under fire from courts for its shoddy investigation, the CBI has constituted a new team to probe the 15-year-old Sister Abhaya murder case which received a sensational revival recently.
The CBI’s special crime unit SP in Delhi will now lead the seven-member team which will begin work on Wednesday itself, CBI sources said in Delhi.
A recent expose had suggested that the nun may have been raped before being murdered and thrown into the well of the Pius X hostel in Kottayam where she was staying.
The indication came in the work register of the chemical analysis performed on the nun’s private parts.
The register was found to have been manipulated with crude corrections and markings to convey that semen was not detected in her vagina.
In a quick reaction, the Chief Judicial Magistrate here had ordered seizure of the register from the chemical analysis lab and subjected it to forensic analysis. The analysis confirmed that the corrections appeared suspicious.
CJM’s comments
 However, despite the new lead, the CBI had been unable to proceed any further. This had invited derisive comments from the CJM here as also the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court where the case was filed.
The latter had even commented that certain ‘invisible’ forces were still trying to influence officials connected with the case.
It was in this context that a senior Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official came to the State to discuss the case with the officials and suggest the change.
Though the state police had dismissed the case as suicide in 1992, the CBI came to the conclusion in 1996 that it was homicide.
There had been no leads in the case after that mostly because crucial evidence including the nun’s clothes were burnt by the police.
The Knanaya Catholic church which runs the working women’s hostel has been in the dock ever since the case shot to prominence.
STORY SO FAR
*The recent expose suggested, the nun might have been raped before murder.
* Forensic analysis confirms the suspicion.
* CBI comes under criticism from CJM, Ernakulam.
* Senior CBI official consults state officials.