KOCHI: The CBI team probing the Sister Abhaya murder case, on Monday, submitted before the Kerala High Court that Justice Cyriac Joseph, former chief justice of Karnataka High Court and now a Supreme Court judge, visited the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bangalore and viewed video tapes of narco analysis tests conducted on the three accused in the case.
The CBI counsel made this submission while the court was considering a contempt petition filed by Abhaya's father Thomas Aikkarakunnel against the CBI that the investigation agency did not comply with a court directive to retrieve original tapes of the narco tests conducted on Fr Thomas M Kottoor, Fr Jose Puthrukkayil and Sister Sephy, the three accused in the case.
The CBI submitted before the Division Bench that Dr Malini, former assistant director, FSL, revealed details of the judge's visit during questioning on June 29 and 30.
"Dr Malini deposed that the judge, who was then chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, visited the FSL on May 23, 2008. It was a private visit. He viewed the video tapes of narco analysis tests conducted on the three accused in the case. He also viewed another video tape of a test conducted on an accused in a terror-related case. The judge had lauded the work done by the lab. His visit was entered in the visitors' book in the lab," said the CBI quoting Dr Malini.
"Dr Malini claimed that as a judge had viewed the video tapes and was satisfied with it, the allegations regarding its genuineness are baseless," the CBI further submitted.
The Division Bench, consisting of Justice K Balakrishnan Nair and Justice C T Ravikumar, which is monitoring the case, has directed the CBI to file an affidavit by August 18.