Kerala nun rape: Priest who testified against Bishop Mulakkal found dead

Chandigarh/Kottayam: Father Kuriakose Kattuthara, a witness in the Kerala nun rape case who testified against accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Dasuya in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur district on Monday morning, police said. The cause of death is not yet known.

The police said that Kattuthara, 62, was found unconscious in his room in the catholic church premises in Dasuya, 40 km from Hoshiarpur town, and was taken to a local hospital where he was declared brought dead.

According to police, no visible injury marks were found on the body.  “There was vomit in the room,” said deputy superintendent of police (DSP) A.R. Sharma. “The viscera will be sent for examination which will throw light on the cause of the death,” he added.

Mr Sharma said the priest retired for the day after taking his meal last night. “In the morning today, the room cleaner, who went to the room of the priest for cleaning, found the door locked from inside. After knocking on the door several times without success, he saw from the windowpane of the room the priest apparently lying unconscious on the bed. He immediately informed the school administration, which got the door opened and found the priest dead,” he said.

Father Kuriakose was suffering from hypertension and high blood sugar, but was fine till Sunday afternoon when he had held mass before retiring to his room in the evening. Blood pressure medicine was also found near him. According to Sister Vianney from the Dasuya school, his body was spotted at 9.30 am after Father Kattuthara did not come out of his house. The four sisters who live in the convent within the compound sounded Father Libin — who serves in another church in the periphery — who forced open the door at 9.30 am and found him unconscious.

Kattuthara’s family, which is in Kerala, has filed a police complaint calling it a “mysterious, sudden death” and alleged that he feared for his life and was attacked earlier. They want a thorough probe into his death and have demanded that the postmortem be conducted at the Alappuzha Medical College in Kerala.

The investigating officer of the case, deputy superintendent of police Subhash, told a TV channel: “Father Kuriakose was a witness but did not have any pivotal role in the case. He was one of the priests we questioned and is among the five-six priests who mentioned that they were aware of the allegations against Bishop Franco.”

Father Kattuthara had deposed before Kerala police against Bishop Mulakkal and had been aiding the nun in the rape case.

He was was transferred 15 days ago to the church in Dasuya and was staying in the church premises which is also home to St. Paul Convent School. Earlier, he was serving in the church at Bhogpur. He had also served as a priest in the Jalandhar diocese.

Meanwhile, the five nuns who are staying with the rape victim at a convent in Kuravilangad near Kottayam said they were not safe and that anything could happen to them.

“We are scared now. There is a mystery behind the death of the priest who had testified against Bishop Mulakkal. We and those who stood with us during our protest seeking arrest of Bishop Mulakkal are also in danger,” Sister Anupama, speaking on behalf of all of them, told reporters in Kottayam.

In her complaint to the Kottayam police in June, the rape victim alleged that Mulakkal raped her at a guest house in Kuravilangad in May 2014 and later sexually exploited her on several occasions.

However, Mulakkal denied the charges as “baseless and concocted,” insisting she levelled those as the Catholic order had rejected her demand for favours.

Mulakkal had received a rousing welcome from his followers and supporters when he returned to Jalandhar after being released on bail by a Kerala court last week. He had last month stepped aside as the bishop of the Jalandhar diocese.