KOCHI: A CBI court on Monday acquitted all 19 people, including a priest, arraigned in the sensational Malankara Varghese murder case that took place in 2002 following a feud between the Jacobite and Orthodox factions of the Malankara Church.
CBI Court Judge Anil K Baskar acquitted Fr Varghese Thekkekkara, Joy Varghese, Alias K Mathew, Abraham Paulose, A V Thambi, Abdul Vahab M M, Sajin Sajimon, V N Prathesh, P G Prasad, P P Tony, Jaison K J, Sreevalsan P J, P D Roy, K R Anand, Sivan A R, Josemon C V, Jayaraj V N, Anil Davis and P P Antu. Of them, three – Jayaraj, Anil and Antu – died during the course of the trial. The verdict, issued 20 years after the incident, has come as a setback to the CBI which took over the probe in 2007.
The case pertains to the murder of Varghese, an Orthodox faction leader by a gang outside a workshop on MC Road near Perumbavoor in Ernakulam on December 5, 2002, following a feud between the two factions. As per the prosecution, Fr Varghese was part of the murder conspiracy and arranged money to hire the gang to carry out the murder.
The Kerala police, which began the probe, handed it over to the Crime Branch, before the CBI Chennai stepped in. Following a request for re-investigation, the CBI Kochi unit conducted a probe and filed a chargesheet in 2015. CBI prosecutor Biju Babu represented the central agency, while B Raman Pillai, Thomas Abraham Nilackappilli, M Sunil Kumar, V T Raghunath and Isaac Thomas represented the accused persons.