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	Abhaya Case Gets Murkier; Former Probe Official Found Dead The Times of India November 25, 2008 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Abhaya_case_gets_murkier_former_probe_official_found_dead/articleshow/3756772.cms THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Sister Abhaya murder case took an eerie twist on Wednesday with a former additional sub-inspector who prepared the FIR in the case found dead in his home in Kerala's Kottayam district. V V Augustine, 75, had apparently committed suicide by slashing his wrist. A note recovered from the body blamed the investigative agency CBI for his death. Augustine, who was suspected to have helped destroy evidence connected with the 16-year-old case, had reportedly been under acute mental duress and had been questioned by the various teams which probed the case. He was ASI of Kottayam west police station at the time of Abhaya's death and was the first to reach the St Pious Convent in Kottayam on the morning of March 27, 1992 when the Catholic nun's body was found in a well there. Subsequently he prepared the FIR and inquest report in the case. In his statement to the investigative agencies, Augustine had said it was the then Kottayam crime branch DySP K T Michael, who asked him to go to the convent. He also said the body was fished out by 8.30 am. This was found to be at variance with the version of the fire force team, which said they brought up the body by 10.30 am. The inquest report, which Augustine had prepared, had also claimed the presence of underclothes on Abhaya's body when it was brought out. But leads suggested that this too may have been wrong. The suspicion gained strength after an expose claimed that the chemical examination report of Abhaya's body had been tampered to conceal the fact that there were semen stains on her private parts. A furore followed forcing the court to summon the then chemical examiner R Geetha, who is now the chief chemical examiner of Kerala. She is now on bail. In June 2007, Augustine moved the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail. But the new CBI team that took over the case came up with the charge that he might have had a part in forging the signatures of two witnesses in the inquest report and needed to be questioned. Augustine had also been taken to Bangalore some months back for a narco-analysis test, but he was not subjected to the same due to ill health. Subsequently a bran mapping test was conducted on him. The former cop's death puts the CBI which is already facing a difficult situation as regards the evidence of the case due to passage of time in a tighter spot. A large volume of evidence in the case was destroyed by the local police ironically armed with an official order before the CBI took over in March 1993. Photographs of the nun's body and other items recovered from the scene including her clothes, veil and personal diary were destroyed by the police which after closing it as a case of suicide secured an order from the then RDO. The CJM court of Ernakulam, which is supervising the probe, had questioned the hurry to destroy the items. In an order passed in 1997, the court slammed the crime branch probe and said there seemed to be someone working behind the scenes to scuttle the case.
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