Lab hands in Abhaya case discharged from tampering charge

A local court today discharged two chemical analysts accused of tampering the chemical examination report in the two-decade-old Sister Abhaya death case.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Vincent Charley discharged former chief chemical examiner R Geetha and analyst M Chitra of the government laboratory, holding that there was no firm ground to allege that they had acted with malafide intention.
Abhaya, a young Catholic nun, was found dead in the well of a convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. The case was initially written off by Kerala police as a suicide and later the CBI submitted closure report for want of evidence.

The case took a decisive turn seven years ago with a newspaper report claiming that the workbook containing the chemical analysis report relating to the case had been tampered with by overwriting.
Petitioner in the case, social worker Jomon Puthenpurakkal, based on the news report approached the court seeking action against the analysts.
The report eventually led to a fresh investigation in the case by CBI and two priests and a nun were arrested in 2008 and charged with murder and destruction of evidence. They were later granted bail by the Kerala High Court.

Though the CBI had filed chargsheet in a special court in Kochi, its trial was stayed by the Supreme Court.

Reacting to the verdict, Geetha said she and her colleague were greately relived as they had not done anything wrong while carrying out their official duties.
Puthenpurakkal said he would move the high court against the CJM order.