KOCHI: In a major setback to the CBI, the special court here on Wednesday rejected its fourth report on the suspicious death of a five-member family in Kaviyoor and directed them to continue the probe. The court had earlier spurned three CBI reports in Kaviyoor case pertaining to the death of a temple priest, his wife and their three kids in their house on September 28, 2004.
The case grabbed attention after it was found that Latha Nair, who was involved in Kiliroor sex scandal, had a role in this case. Kiliroor case pertains to the sexual exploitation of a teenage girl by influential people. The girl had died after giving birth to a baby. The CBI, in its previous reports, had ruled out foul play in the Kaviyoor deaths. It also said the 14-year-old elder child was sexually abused 24 to 72 hours before her death and pinned the blame on her father, the 40-year-old priest.
However, in the fourth report, it backtracked on its findings and said there was no evidence to prove that the priest had abused his daughter. CBI had maintained that Latha Nair was known to the priest’s family and had stayed in their place when the police was probing the Kiliroor case.
The priest was questioned in connection with the case and out of embarrassment the family committed suicide, the CBI had concluded. However, the relatives of the priest believed that Latha Nair had facilitated sexual abuse of the girl, forcing the family to take the extreme step.