Avoid conjectures, wait for reports to know cause: Jalandhar diocese

JALANDHAR:BREAKING the silence over the mysterious death of father Kuriakose Kattuthara, who was found dead in his room on October 22, the diocese of Jalandhar has asked the community to wait for results instead of succumbing to conjectures about the cause of death.

A native of Kerala’s Alappuzha (previously known as Alleppey), Kuriakose, 61, had testified against former bishop Franco Mulakkal, the main accused in the Kerala nun rape case.

Kuriakose was found dead on October 22 in his room on the Catholic Church premises in Dasuya, 40 km from here.

“In order to preclude any suspicion with regard to the cause of his death, we requested that an autopsy be conducted at a government hospital. The fact that the police authorities allowed the body to be taken to Kerala for burial indicates that they do not suspect anything amiss,” Agnelo Gracias, apostolic administrator of diocese of Jalandhar, said in its statement on Friday.

The statement came amid the silence of Mulakkal, who has gone incommunicado since he returned to Jalandhar after securing a bail in the rape case from the Kerala high court on October 17.

The two-page letter bearing signatures of Agnelo, further reads, “We await the final results of the autopsy. We ask everyone not to succumb to conjectures about the cause of death. We have ensured transparency.”

Officials at the diocese said that it was forced to issue a statement after “tendentious” statements being made by some individuals to the Press and the incident has left the Christian community divided in Punjab.