WON’T GO FOR 2ND AUTOPSY: PRIEST’S KIN
CHANGE OF MIND Say they are satisfied with postmortem conducted in the state after procedure was videographed
SAY THEY WILL WAIT FOR THE AUTOPSY REPORT AND THEN TAKE A CALL ON NEXT COURSE OF ACTION ; PRIEST’S BODY TAKEN TO KERALA
DASUYA (HOSHIARPUR): The family members of priest Kuriakose Kattuthara, who was found dead in his room at a Dasuya church in Hoshiarpur district, said on Wednesday they will not get second post-mortem done on the body, a day after they expressed their desire for the same if they were not satisfied with the Punjab Police’s probe into the matter.
“We are satisfied with the post-mortem conducted in Punjab and, therefore, will not go for another in Kerala,” said John Thomas, the deceased priest’s cousin.
Kuriakose, a native of Kerala’s Allepy, was a key witness in the case wherein a nun has accused Jalandhar diocese bishop Franco Mulakkal of repeatedly raping her. He had testified against Mulakkal who is out on bail after her was arrested by the Kerala Police.
Kuriakose’s brother Jose Kurian, cousin John Thomas and nephew Jojo Thomas had reached Dasuya to lodge formal complaint casting aspersions on the ‘natural death’ theory. Jose on Tuesday filed a police complaint, alleging his brother was being harassed by Mulakkal and his supporters.
On the basis of his complaint, the police had initiated inquest proceedings. The body was handed over to the family on Tuesday after the post-mortem conducted by a board of four doctors with the entire procedure having been videographed.
Asked whether they think the death was natural, John said, “We will wait for the autopsy report and after that we will see if it natural or not.”
The priest’s body was airlifted from the Delhi airport to Kerala on Wednesday.
STORY CONCOCTED TO GET THE BISHOP’S BAIL CANCELLED: DIOCESE
Officials of the Jalandhar diocese rubbished the allegations of the deceased priest’s family, saying they under the influence of other group have concocted a story to defame bishop Mulakkal and to get his bail cancelled.
“Kuriakose was not sharing a good relationship with his family. Even when he went for vacations to Kerala he used to stay at some other place instead of his brothers’ place,” diocese spokesperson Father Peter said.
“The police should trace the phone calls of the deceased and the bishop. They won’t get a clue of any threat, torture or pressure by the bishop or any of his supporters to Kuriakose,” he added.
When asked of Kuriakose’s residence or vehicle was ever vandalised as was claimed, David Gill, who was a driver of the priest when he was posted in Bhogpur, said that no such incident took place.
“I think that the family is misguided by someone. A Toyota Innova belonging to someone else was vandalised by some miscreants outside the church. They may have tried to relate the two unconnected incidents,” he said.