Representative Image ANI | Updated: Jan 19, 2021 23:49 IST
Kochi (Kerala) [India], January 19 (ANI): The Kerala High Court has agreed to hear the appeal moved by Father Thomas Kottoor challenging the trial court verdict convicting him for the murder of Sister Abhaya.
A Division Bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and MR Anitha admitted Father Kottoor s appeal.
In his appeal, Father Kottoor has submitted that the trial court s judgment is based on unconnected story circumstances culled out from unreliable solitary witnesses. The trial and conviction of the accused by the court below in all respects are vitiated by grave illegalities and irregularities.
Kottoor, along with Sister Sephy, a nun, were convicted on December 23, 2020, by a CBI Court, Thiruvananthapuram for the murder of 19-year-old nun Sister Abhaya. Thereafter, they were sentenced to imprisonment for life.
Balachandran Chullikkadu, poet
This Christmas, Kerala is celebrating a reformed thief who is being equated with God’s signature and who has emerged holier than some of the men who wear the cloth.
Raju, then a petty thief, faced a difficult choice 28 years ago.
If he testified against the suspects in the high-profile murder of a nun in a Kerala convent, he would have to incriminate himself by confessing he had been at the site to steal.
The choice he made in 1992 has now helped nail the priest and nun who killed Sister Abhaya and turned him into the toast of Kerala.