KOCHI: In the sensational Sr Abhaya murder case, it was after around 16 years the CBI could gather evidence to establish that it was a murder. Abhaya was found dead in a well at St Pius X Convent, Kottayam, on March 27, 1992. The Kottayam West police that probed the case initially closed the investigation terming it as a suicide. Though the Crime Branch later took up the investigation, it also concluded it as a suicide. Following the High Court’s intervention, the case was handed over to the CBI. However, the first team of the CBI failed to find the reason for death. Upon instruction from the court, a second team was set up, which gathered evidence to establish the murder angle, but evidence was not sufficient to reach the accused. The third team of CBI succeeded in joining the missing links. The team established the role of two priests and a sister responsible for the murder and arrested them on November 19, 2008.
According to the police officers, like Abhaya case, a few death incidents were recorded as suicides and accidents while the chances of a planned murder could not be ruled out. Criminologist James Vadakkumcherry said severe lapses in the investigation were the reason for this. “After the Koodathayi murder, another murder mystery in the state has been unravelled. The body of Adarsh Jayakumar, a 14-year-old boy who went missing on April 5, 2009, was found in a nearby pond. The case was closed due to lapses in the investigation. The family now suspects that he could have been murdered, as the postmortem report pointed to head and spinal cord injury. Though the postmortem report cited these facts, the officers ignored the leads”, he added.
The Kanichukulangara accident case is another example. In this incident, a lorry rammed an SUV in which Everest Chit Fund owner T G Ramesh, his sister Latha, driver Shamsuddin and two others were travelling. The murder conspiracy was hatched by two persons with whom Ramesh had parted ways to set up his own firm. Initially, the inquiry was closed on the presumption that it was an accident. However, a CBI probe later revealed the murder plot.
Meanwhile, former SP T K Rajmohan said, in a majority of the cases, people are not interested to inform the deaths to police. “In Koodathayi case too, only one death was reported to the police. Hence the police could not collect evidence and investigate the death,” he added. However, he said that, in 1988 the mystery behind the death of 36-year old Mariam at Cherkala in Kasaragod was unravelled by the police without any complaint. “Her body was buried after she was found dead at her residence. However, an investigation proved that a youth who was employed as a servant in the house had murdered her,” he added.