The Uttarakhand Police late on Wednesday night arrested Keralite Satheesh Babu (38), accused of murdering Catholic nun Sr Amala (69) at lisieux Carmelite Convent in Pala, Kottayam on September 17, from a trust’s guest house in Haridwar. However, the identity of the arrested person will be confirmed only after a Kerala Police team visits Haridwar, most probably on Friday.
As per reports reaching Kerala from Haridwar, a Special Branch team of the Uttarakhand Police nabbed Satheesh Babu, a native of Kasaragod district, on a tip-off from the investigators in Kerala who had got the clue on his whereabouts from a phone call received by his brother. The accused was held just a day after the Kerala Police released his photographs and other details.
“There is already a partial confirmation of the identity of the accused. But we can be certain only after on-the-spot examination,” said Additional DGP K Padmakumar in Kochi. “It is quite possible that the person is Satheesh Babu himself. But a 100-per cent confirmation can be made only after the police team from here visits Haridwar,” he added.
According to the authorities of the Ayyappa Seva Trust in Haridwar, at the guest house of which Satheesh Babu had stayed in hiding for two days saying that he had lost wallet and other belongings while taking a dip in Ganga. “He had come here on September 22. We had no reason to suspect him,” said Vishnu Namboothiri of the Haridwar trust, a native of Kannur, Kerala.
“We had asked him whether he could give us any contact number of any friend or relative. At first he said he did not remember any number but later gave the mobile number of his brother, an employee with the KSRTC. I called him up and then sent a message to his mobile saying that his brother was with us,” said Namboothiri.
The call and the message alerted the Kerala Police’s special team investigating the nun’s murder, who had put the phones of Satheesh Babu’s relatives under surveillance, and they got in touch with the Haridwar Police through a Malayalee official in the Uttarakhand Police. Reports said this had led to the arrest.
Namboothiri said that four police officials had taken Satheesh Babu into custody while he was having food on Wednesday night. However, the arrested person denied having committed any crime. “I don’t know why I have been taken into custody. I came here as a pilgrim. I don’t know anything about any crime,” he told mediamen from Kerala.
Sources in the Kerala Police said that a team of officials headed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Pala would leave for Delhi lateThursday and proceed to Haridwar on Friday. “The first task is to confirm if the arrested person is Satheesh Babu himself. The other formalities will follow,” said a police official.
Sr Amala was found dead in her room at the Pala convent on the morning of September 17 when fellow-nuns went to search for her as she had missed the Mass at the convent chapel. The nun had suffered deep injuries in the head, inflicted with a blunt object. It was later found that attacks had been carried out on nuns in other convents also in the recent days.
The police had received clear information that Satheesh Babu had been in Pala for the past several days. According to them, he was a habitual criminal who kept illicit relationships with women and was in the peculiar habit of carrying out attacks on nuns in convents. They also said that he was facing criminal cases in several Kerala districts.