Kochi: Kerala High Court granted conditional bail to priest Thomas Kottoor and nun Sephy who were sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Sr Abhaya, in March, 1992.
A division bench of the High Court granted the bail while allowing their petitions seeking suspension of their life terms.
The court directed them to furnish a bond of Rs 5 lakh each and two solvent sureties. They were directed to appear on all Saturdays before the police for six months and were banned from leaving the state without the court’s permission.
A CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram had convicted them in December 2020.
The trial court had allowed the discharge petition of another alleged accused, Father Jose Puthrikkayil.
Sr Abhaya, 20, was found dead in a well of St Pius Xth Convent at Kottayam on March 27, 1992. Kerala police concluded it as a case of suicide. The Kerala High Court directed the CBI to probe it in 1993, but it failed to find the motive behind the death.
The court ordered second CBI probe which claimed it as a murder but failed to locate the killers. The probe continued, headed by another official who suggested closure of the case.
In September, 2008 the Court directed the CBI in Kerala to probe the case. In 2009, the CBI concluded that Sr Abhaya was attacked for becoming a witness to the intimate relationship of Sr Sephy and the other two accused priests.
In December 2020, the Special CBI Court, Thiruvananthapuram had found the appellants guilty of murdering Sr Abhaya.
Bail for Abhaya case convicts
