Nun rape case: Probe team wants bishop summoned to state

KOTTAYAM: The police team investigating the sexual abuse complaint raised by a Catholic nun against the Bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mulakkal, is learned to have come to the conclusion that it is not practical to return to Jalandhar to interrogate the bishop again. It is learnt that the team is of the strong view that the bishop should be summoned to the state, instead.
The investigation team is confident that they have got sufficient evidence to take the bishop into custody which will eventually lead to his arrest, said a source close to the team.
The probe team had confirmed that the claim of the bishop that he was in a convent of the diocese in Thodupuzha on the day the nun had said that she was abused for the first time by him in the Kuravilangad convent is a lie. The investigation team lead by Vaikom DSP K Subhash had gone straight to the convent in Thodupuzha to seize the records there, after returning from Jalandhar.
According to sources, there are over 20 contradictions in the statement given by the bishop and this itself will make his arrest inevitable. The driver who dropped the bishop in the convent on the day the nun had alleged that she was abused by him has also become crucial in the investigation.
Since the recording of the bishop's statement in Jalandhar was video-recorded, if he makes and change in his stand in future interrogation, it will only go against him.
Meanwhile, the probe team is also not ruling out the possibility of more complaints coming up against the bishop in the coming days.