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Suspect in Kerala nun murder case arrested

Trivandrum - Sister Amala, 69, of Lisieux Carmelite Convent was found dead in her room with injuries on her head.

In a major breakthrough in the case of alleged murder of an elderly nun at a convent in Pala near Kottayam last week, Kerala police have taken into custody a 38-year-old person.
Sister Amala, 69, of Lisieux Carmelite Convent was found dead in her room with injuries on her head on September 17.
The post-mortem report confirmed that she was murdered.
Police have identified the accused as Satheesh Babu from Kasargod. Satheesh was nabbed from an ashram in Uttarakhand after tracking his movements from calls he made from his mobile phone to his relatives and friends. He had taken shelter in the Ayyappa temple ashram at Haridwar saying he had lost his purse.
The effort by the ashram authority to confirm his bonafides proved costly for the accused. The investigating team tracked the message they sent to the mobile phone of his brother in Kerala. After confirming his identity from the photograph sent by the Kerala police, the Hardwar police detained the accused. A team of the Kerala police has left for Haridwar to bring him to the state.
The police had identified Satheesh at the early stage of investigation as his mobile phone, which incidentally was stolen from another convent earlier, was identified in the vicinity of the Carmelite convent on the day of the murder. Before they could catch him, the accused went hiding.
A habitual drunkard, Satheesh is said to be a serial offender who has targeted convents in the past as well. Several cases of attack on nuns during night were reported from nearby convents. Another elderly nun in the same convent was assaulted a couple of days before the murder of Sister Amala. Police believe that he may be involved in these incidents.
The accused, who dresses decently, is in the habit of taking liquor right from morning. Police said that he had visited a toddy shop near Pala along with his friends immediately after the crime. He escaped before the police reached there.
Sister Amala was found dead by other nuns at Carmel Convent who had gone to her room after she missed the morning mass at the chapel. The doors of her room were not locked from inside and they found Amala, who had sustained a deep injury on her forehead, lying in a pool of blood.