Malankara Varghese murder: CBI court acquits all 19 accused

Kochi/Kottayam: In a major setback to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the CBI special court in Kochi on Monday acquitted all 19 accused persons in the sensational Malankara Varghese murder case, nearly 21 years after the incident. Varghese, alias Malankara Varghese, a member of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church’s (MOSC) managing committee, was hacked to death by a gang near a motor workshop along the MC Road in Perumbavoor on December 5, 2002.The CBI special court-1, chaired by Judge Anil Bhaskar, acquitted all the accused persons, including a Jacobite priest, citing the prosecution’s failure to produce concrete evidence against them.The acquitted persons are Fr Varghese Thekkekkara, the manager of the Angamaly diocese of the Jacobite church, Jacobite church management committee member Joy Varghese alias K Mathew, Abraham Paulose, A V Thambi, Abdul Vahab M M, Sajin Sajimon, V N Prathesh, P G Prasad, P P Tony, Jaison K J, Jayaraj V N, Sreevalsan P J, P D Roy, Anil Davis, K R Anand, P P Antu, Sivan A R and Josemon C V. Of them, Jayaraj, Anil Davis and Antu are no more.As per the prosecution case, the gang that killed Varghese was hired by a group of Jacobites due to the rivalry between the followers of Jacobite Syrian Christian Church (JSCC) and MOSC at Perumbavoor in December 2002. As many as 19 persons were arraigned as accused in the case. Fr Thekkekkara was the first accused for allegedly being part of the murder conspiracy and arranging the funds to hire the killer gang. The case was initially probed by the state police and later by the crime branch. In 2007, CBI Chennai unit took over the case following a high court directive after Varghese’s wife filed a petition. The agency submitted the chargesheet against all the 19 accused.In 2012, the agency’s Thiruvananthapuram unit submitted a supplementary report after the HC ordered a reinvestigation into the case. The trial of the case began in November 2021. Around 86 prosecution witnesses and 206 documents were examined during the trial. There were two defence witnesses and 29 documents were produced by the defence counsels.While CBI prosecutor Biju Babu appeared for the prosecution, the accused persons were represented by advocates B Raman Pillai, Thomas Abraham Nilackappilli, M Sunil Kumar, V T Raghunath, Ians Chamakkala, John S Ralph, K Jayachandran, Peter Davis and Isaac Thomas.Orthodox Church to approach higher courts against verdictThe Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church will approach higher courts against the CBI court verdict releasing the accused persons in the murder of T M Varghese alias Malankara Varghese. In a press note on Monday, Malankara association secretary Biju Oommen said the verdict was unexpected. After studying the verdict in detail, the Church will approach higher courts, said Oommen, adding that the legal battle will continue till the guilty are punished.