Mortal remains of elderly nun exhumed, autopsy done

Authorities exhumed the mortal remains of an elderly Catholic nun, who was buried in a Cathedral Church cemetery in Pala here in April and performed an autopsy to ascertain whether she was killed by an alleged 'psychopath killer' who was arrested recently in connection with the murder of another nun.
The man held in connection with murder of a 69-year-old nun in Pala had confessed during interrogation that he had attacked 83-year-old Sister Jose Maria, another nun, at her convent near Erattupetta in April this year, police said.
Satheesh Babu has been remanded in police custody for the probe into the recent murder of Sister Amala in Lisieux Carmel Convent at Pala.

During the interrogation he has "confessed" to having attacked Jose Maria at her room in the Sacred Heart Convent in Chettuthodu in Erattupetta.
She was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood on April 17 and was admitted to a private hospital. She died a few days later due to injuries to her head, police had said.
Officials said during postmortem, a deep wound has been detected on the skull of the nun. An attack with a sharp edged weapon is suspected to have been the reason for the wounds, they said.

Babu, who was arrested by Uttarakhand police from Haridwar last week and has been described by Kerala police as a psychopath, had allegedly stolen Rs 70,000 from Sacred Heart Convent.

Police had written off the Sacred Heart Convent case as one of natural death caused by the fall of the nun in her convent room. She was buried in the cemetery of a cathedral in Pala.
Babu, a native of Kasaragod, who was absconding after allegedly killing Sister Amala, was brought to the state last week after Kerala police secured his custody through transit warrant from Uttarakhand police on September 25.
He was produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate court in Pala yesterday and was remanded in police custody.
Police, which had conducted the probe with the help of its cyber cell, have said that Babu is a serial offender targeting convents.

Sister Amala was found on September 17 lying in a pool of blood inside her convent room. There was a deep injury with a sharp-edged weapon on her back and minor wounds on her forehead.