A court here on Monday restrained newspapers and television channels from publishing or telecasting contents of CDs of the narco tests conducted on the three accused in the sister Abhaya murder case.
Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate K. A. Baby passed the order after it was brought to his notice that some Malayalam television channels were telecasting portions of the CDs showing accused — Father Thomas Kottoor, Jose Puthrikayil and Sister Sephy — replying to queries made during the narco analysis tests conducted on them earlier this year.
The court on Monday provided copies of the charge sheet along with the relevant documents, including copies of the narco CDs, to the three accused.
Sister Abhaya was found dead in the well of the St Pius Convent in Kottayam in 1992 and police had earlier closed the case as a suicide. The investigation into the case was later taken over by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which filed three closure reports. But the Kerala High Court declined to accept the reports and asked the agency to investigate further.
CBI’s Kochi unit, which took over the probe from the agency’s Delhi unit as directed by high court, arrested the three on the charge of murder in November last year and filed the charge sheet in the CJM court on July 17.
CBI conducted various scientific tests, including narco and polygraph at Forensic Science Laboratory, Bangalore. The accused have denied the charges against them.
