Senior counsel Harish Salve was engaged as a lawyer for one of the witnesses who turned hostile in the sister Abhaya murder case and the Knayaya catholic church paid his fee, the 229-page judgment by a CBI court in Kerala has noted. Harish Salve represented Achamma, the kitchen supervisor who testified about the mess in the kitchen on the day Abhaya was murdered, in a plea filed in the Supreme Court as the trial was ongoing.
The judgment notes the “fascinatingly bizarre fact” that Achamma, who was employed as a cook at St Pius X Convent Hostel in Kottayam and was ‘poorly paid,’ had approached the Supreme Court against the validity of the narco analysis test that was to be conducted on her by the CBI, which was probing the case, and a “highly expensive litigation” was carried out New Delhi.
“When the prosecution suggested that her counsel before the Hon’ble Apex Court had been none other than Sri. Harish Salve, arguably India’s greatest living lawyer, she did not deny it. Further, she conceded that her litigation had been financed by the convent and that she was not aware of its nitty-gritty,” the judgment notes.
Achamma was one of the crucial witnesses in the sister Abhaya death case. In her police statement, she had deposed that some disturbances were noticed by her in the kitchen of the convent on the morning of Abhaya’s death. Achamma during her cross-examination in the CBI court did admit that she had given the police the right version, though she refused to confirm it again. This partial affirmation from her also helped the prosecution in proving their case.
TNM has earlier reported that since the trial began in August 2019, several witnesses turned hostile — many under pressure and some who were accused of taking bribes.
The judgment notes that it is “reasonable to suppose” that the prime accused, Father Thomas, “had at his control the immense resources of the diocese in terms of money and material and could command the obedience of priests, nuns, and laymen.”
The judgment also added that the two accused in the case, Father Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy, tried to scuttle the probe by “repeatedly” obtaining stays from the Kerala High Court on the trial court proceedings citing various grounds.
It must be noted that shortly after the two accused were sentenced to life in prison, the church issued a statement supporting the two accused. The Knanaya Catholic Archeparchy of Kottayam has said that the allegations against Father Joseph Kottoor and Sister Sephy are beyond belief.