Kerala nun rape: accused bishop cries conspiracy

Amid growing clamour over the demand for the arrest of Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal of Roman Catholic Diocese for raping a nun several times, the Bishop on Tuesday came out in the public saying the case was a conspiracy against him.

He accused the victim of blackmail. “I don’t want to go into the merits of the case, but I deny all charges levelled against me,” Franco said on Tuesday.

The 54-year-old Mulakkal was booked in Kottayam in Kerala on June 29 this year for raping a 43-year-old nun 13 times, including in Jalandhar between 2014 and 2016.

Franco said he has already been questioned elaborately for 9-hours by the Kerala police that visited Punjab last month. “I will be fully cooperating with the investigating agency,” he said.

On the Kerala MLA coming out in his support and using derogatory words against the victim, Bishop Franco said, “I don’t know the MLA. I never met him and have no relationship with him”. The Kerala police led by an officer of the rank of a DSP last month had visited Jalandhar and other places to gather evidence. Statements of at least four nuns were recorded as part of the probe.