Kerala Police question 4 nuns, Jalandhar Bishop not quizzed

JALANDHAR: The six-member Kerala Police team investigating a nun’s complaint of sexual assault against Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakka questioned four nuns known to the complainant here on Saturday.

After eight hours of questioning, it emerged that the bishop is yet to be interrogated.

The team, led by Vaikom DSP K Subhash, entered the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation convent in Jalandhar Cantonment at 11.50am and left at 7.50pm after recording the statements of the four nuns.

The nuns gave their statements in writing. The police refused to disclose what the nuns stated.

Mulakkal, 54, was booked in Kottayam on June 29 for sexually abusing the 43-year-old nun 13 times, including in Jalandhar, between 2014 and 2016.

The four nuns questioned on Saturday were at the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation in Jalandhar, where the complainant was posted as mother general till 2013.

At present, they are posted in Ludhiana, Gurdaspur and Jalandhar cantonment churches.

“Jalandhar ACP Jang Bahadur Sharma accompanied the policemen from Kerala. They recorded the statements in their native language (Malayalam) which our cops don’t follow,” deputy commissioner of police Gurmeet Singh said.

He said that the Kerala police visited Beas village in Jalandhar on Friday evening but were tightlipped.

The team is in Jalandhar for three days.

On his part, Mulakkal has refuted the nun’s charges, saying she was targeting him for initiating a probe against her for her involvement in an illicit relationship.

The nun is a member of the Missionaries of Jesus Congregation based in Punjab which runs two convents in Kerala. She was at one of the convents at Kuravilanagad in Kottayam.