Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal.
KOTTAYAM: With the investigation team probing the rape complaint filed by a nun against Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal not making any breakthrough in the first phase, the police have decided to continue the evidence collection. A decision in this regard was taken in a meeting of the higher police officers convened by Kochi Range IG Vijay S Sakhare in Kochi on Monday night.
Following this, the proceedings related to the arrest of Mulakkal will be further delayed. According to police sources, the IG’s meeting reviewed all the evidence, videos and documents collected from day one of the investigation, and hence the meeting which commenced by Monday 8 pm lasted till the wee hours of Tuesday.
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“We need more evidence to incriminate Bishop Mulakkal beyond any doubts,” said Hari Sankar, Kottayam district police chief.The meeting also decided to expedite the investigation before the commencement of the Sabarimala pilgrim season and the review meetings are likely to be held every week now onward.
“We have charted our plans for the next seven days and would verify and cross-check the evidence against the bishop,” Hari Sankar said. It is learnt the probe team is not satisfied with the evidence collected so far and Mulakkal is unlikely to be arrested soon. “There is no scope for summoning or arresting Mulakkal at this juncture,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.
