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Chief chemical examiner questioned Abhaya case: CCE questioned

Staff Reporter

CBI begins probe into charges that the report was tampered with

UNDER SCRUTINY: CBI officials coming out of the office of the Chief Chemical Examiner to Government at the Public Health Laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday. - Photo: S. Mahinsha

Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun investigations into the allegation that the chemical examination report in the Sister Abhaya murder case was tampered with.

A CBI team from New Delhi on Thursday questioned Chief Chemical Examiner (CCE) R. Geetha in this connection. The CBI team, consisting of Inspectors Subash Gundu and V.R. Vinod, was at the CCE's office for nearly three hours on Thursday.

Official sources said the CBI team came prepared with a detailed questionnaire. Ms. Geetha's statement was recorded on tape. An official said the "corrections" were actually found in the work record register at the CCE's office.

Common practice

A laboratory official said it was common practice to enter preliminary findings in the register. Such entries were corrected, if necessary, when the entire chemical analysis was completed, he said. Earlier, the CCE had written to the Home Ministry stating that no corrections had been made in the final chemical analysis report. In her petition, she urged the State Government to find those responsible for the dissemination of the "misleading" news.

The CCE's laboratory had chemically analysed the organ samples collected from Sister's Abhaya's body in 1992 as part of the forensic investigation into the cause of her death.

(The body of the nun was found in a well in the compound of a convent in Kottayam district). The crucial forensic tests were conducted under the supervision of Ms. Geetha who was the then head of the Toxicology Department and Joint Chemical Examiner. Technical assistant Chithra assisted her. The CBI could not question Chitra, as she is away in New Delhi.

In the work register, it was entered that spermatozoa was found on the "vaginal swabs" taken from Sister Abhaya's body.

The entry was seen corrected later. In the final report, it was stated that was no scientific evidence to support the earlier entry.

A copy of the "tampered" work register was leaked to the media following which several news reports suggesting foul play in the sensational case appeared in the press. Chief Judicial Magistrate S. Soman took cognisance of the serious nature of the reports and ordered the police to seize the original copy of the work register.

The CBI on Thursday moved the CJM for the work register.

The CJM directed the CBI to move a similar petition before the CBI Special Court in Kochi. The CBI officers also questioned the Sub-Inspector, Museum, and Muhammed Hussien, who seized the register as per the court's direction.

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