Kerala nun rape: Punjab Police suspect Father Kuriakose's death is unnatural; case filed

Jalandhar: The Hoshiarpur Police on Tuesday has registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC (when a person has committed suicide, or has been killed by another or by an animal or by machinery or by an accident, or has died under circumstances raising a reasonable suspicion that some other person has committed an offence) after receiving a complaint from Father Kuriakose's younger brother Jose Katthuthara about his unnatural death. If the lab, report of the samples collected from the room, where the priest was found dead, and the autopsy reports prove the death to be natural, then Section 174 will be dropped.

The mysterious death of Father Iko Kuriakose Elias Chavara of Jalandhar Archdiocese has started giving nightmares to the family members residing in Cherthala, Alappuzha, Sister Anupama and Annie Rosy, who had taken stands against rape-accused clergyman Franco Mulakkal. 

The key witness to the ongoing Kerala nun rape case, Fr Kuriakose Kattuthara, was found dead in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur on Monday. Kattuthara, 62, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his room in the Catholic church premises in Dasuya. According to reports, Fr Kuriakose, who testified against the prime accused Franco Mulakkal, was facing a life threat. His car was recently vandalised.

Five nuns from a convent in Kottayam Kuravilangadu seminary had protested in Kochi, Kerala, against former Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is accused of raping a nun multiple times between 2014 and 2016. 

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These sisters had already told their family members and the public that their life was under threat. Earlier, there were reports that suggested that Mulakkal’s aides had tried to trap the families of the sisters in fake cases as the sisters had given statements against Mulakkal, leading to his arrest.

 

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