Franco Mulakkal's probe team to return from Jalandhar today

Despite questioning Bishop Franco Mulakkal for nearly nine hours since Monday night, team yet to arrive at a conclusion in the case

KOTTAYAM: Ending one-and-a-half-monthslong suspense, the police team probing the rape complaint filed by a nun against Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal has completed their investigation in Jalandhar and other places in north India. The team is likely to return on Wednesday morning. At the same time, the probe team is yet to arrive at a conclusion in the case even after Mulakkal was questioned for nearly nine hours, which commenced on Monday night and lasted till the wee hours of Tuesday. Following this, the probe team decided not to arrest the bishop for the time being.

According to sources, any further steps in the case will be taken only after DGP Loknath Behera, Ernakulam Range IG Vijay S Sakhare and Kottayam SP Hari Sankar review the evidence collected by the investigation team so far. A top police officer said more clarity is needed in some areas before jumping into a conclusion. “We have to question the bishop and the nun once again to clear the doubts,” he said. Notably, the bishop is likely to be summoned to Kerala for further interrogation so the police can take him to custody if needed. The probe team led by Vaikom DySP K Subhash seized various materials, including Mulakkal’s laptop, mobile phone, hard disk of the diocese’s PRO Fr Peter Kavumpuram and some crucial files from the bishop’s house. Speaking to media persons after the interrogation, DySP Subhash said the bishop denied his presence in St Francis Mission, House, Kuruvilangad during the dates on which he allegedly raped the nun.

“As per the bishop’s statement, there are some conflicts in his visit to the Mission House. We have to collect more details about it,” he said. At the same time, higher police officers dismissed allegations that Mulakkal forced the Kerala police team to wait for more than four hours to meet him at the bishop house. “The probe team arrived for a detailed evidence collection at the bishop’s residence and questioned four others before calling Mulakkal. When the bishop’s turn came up, he was present there,” said Hari Sankar, Kottayam district police chief, who is monitoring the probe.

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