By IANS
Kochi (Kerala) : A Kerala court Monday rapped the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for failing to make a breakthrough into the mysterious death of a nun, Sister Abhaya, in 1992.
Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate P.D. Sharangdharan was surprised that the CBI had no clue in the case even after 15 years. Sister Abhaya, an inmate of Pious X hostel near Kottayam was found dead in the well of the convent.
"It is very clear that there are powerful external forces working in this case and are still active. It is surprising that the CBI has no clue (in the case)," said Sharangdharan.
He expressed shock that Sister Abhaya's post mortem work register had gone missing from the Kottayam Medical College last month. While ordering an enquiry into the missing register, he directed the CBI to submit a progress report about the probe every three months in a sealed cover.
"The court cannot be a mute witness to all what is happening," Sharangdharan said.
The 15-year-old case came back into the limelight in April after a newspaper reported that Abhaya's medical reports had been tampered with at the Chemical Examiners Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram.
According to the report, the results of the vaginal swab were positive for semen and spermatozoa but were corrected using a whitener and rewritten as negative.
Last month, the Thiruvananthapuram Chief Judicial Magistrate had ordered that two women officials of the Chemical Examiners Laboratory be arrested – after a forensic report confirmed that tampering of records took place at the laboratory.
Following the ruling, the two women went underground, fearing arrest. But the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court Monday ruled against their arrest, adding that they move a bail application before June 8.
Though the CBI has been investigating the case since 1993, they are yet to come out with any conclusive evidence. The agency concluded in November 1996 that the death was a homicide but the murderer remained untraced.
The state police had dismissed the case as suicide in 1992.
It is now being re-investigated by the CBI following an order by the Ernakulam chief judicial magistrate in April 2006. He did not accept the CBI's final report and directed it to conduct fresh investigations.