A senior nun of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church was found dead in a well in the compound of her convent at Pathanapuram in Kerala’s Kollam district on Sunday morning. The police registered a case of unnatural death.
The body of Sr CE Soosamma (55), a teacher of physical science, was found in the well of the convent attached to the Mount Tabor Dayara in Pathanapuram by 9.30 AM by workers of the convent. Reports quoted her fellow-nuns as saying Sr Soosamma was suffering from several health problems and this might have forced to commit suicide.
Nuns in the convent said she had opted to stay in her room when they had asked her to join the daily prayers at the nearby church early Sunday morning. The body of the senior nun was found in the well by the workers of the convent in a search they conducted after noticing blood marks on the protection wall of the well.
“There were self-inflicted injuries on both her hands,” said a police official. “The wound in the left hand was severe and deep while that on the right hand was comparatively small. More details and the cause of death will be known only after the postmortem which will be done at the Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram,” said the official.
The body was taken out of the well by Fire and Rescue personnel Sunday afternoon in the presence of the police. Sr Soosamma, a native of Kallada in Kollam district, had been a physical science teacher at the Mount Tabor School attached to the Dayara for the past 25 years and was to retire from service next year.
The Circle Inspector of police in Pathanapuram has been given the charge of probing the nun’s death and the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Punalur will oversee the investigation. Kollam district Congress president Bindu Krishna termed the incident as shocking while KB Ganesh Kumar, MLA from Pathanapuram, promised a detailed probe.
Sr Soosamma’s colleagues in the convent said she had undergone treatment in at least two hospitals in Pathanamthitta districts since August 14, the day she had returned to the convent from her house. They said she had spoken to her brother late Saturday evening and had told him that she had severe heath problems.
This is not the first time a nun’s body was being found in a convent well in Kerala. The body of Catholic nun Sr Abhaya (19) was found in the well of her St Pius X Convent in Kottayam on March 27, 1992. After many years of probe, the CBI came to the conclusion that the nun was murdered by two priests and another nun. The trial in the case is yet to conclude.
Catholic nun Sr Jyothis (22) was found dead in the well of her Sacred Heart Convent in Kallurutty, Kozhikode on November 20, 1998. On August 17, 2011, the body of senior nun Sr Mary Ancy (48) was found in a water tank in the compound of her Fathima Matha Convent at Poonkulam near Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram district.