Former head of Forensic Medicine C Radhakrishnan on Friday deposed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here that Sister Abhaya’s death was by drowning.
During the cross examination in the case, pertaining to the tampering of chemical examination report related to Sister Abhaya murder case, he also told the court that Abhaya was not sexually exploited. Radhakrishnan said that water would not enter the intestine if a person falls into water in an unconscious state.
However, he said that it was not examined if the water found in Sr Abhaya’s intestine matched the sample taken from the well. It was for the investigation officials to probe if it was a murder or a suicide, Radhakrishnan said. Abhaya’s body was found in a well in the Pius X Convent Hostel, run by the Knanaya Catholics, in Kottayam in 1992.
The unnatural death case was written off by investigators till it sprung back to headlines in 2007 after a media expose about alleged forgery of the chemical analysis report. Two priests and a nun - Father Jose Puthrukayil, Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy - were arrested in 2008 in connection with the case. At present, all three are out on bail.