Fr K J Thomas murder: Procurator, three other priests shifted out of seminary
Bangalore, Aug 14 (DHNS): The city police have narrowed down their list of suspects to four men in their investigation of the April 1 murder of Rector K J Thomas of St Peter Pontifical Seminary at Malleswaram.
Investigators now believe that the murder was an inside job, aided by new leads from the procurator of the seminary, Father Patrick Xavier, who allegedly made several revelations during his narco-analysis examination.
Fr K J Thomas
Xavier was sleeping in the room next to that of the rector’s and had claimed to have not heard or seen anything during the night of the murder. However, during narco-analysis examination at the Forensic Science Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Xavier is said to have revealed information he had earlier concealed from the investigators. Though the investigators declined to reveal details, they say it has helped them to narrow down the list of suspects.
While Xavier is the prime suspect, investigators have identified three of his colleagues – Sebastian Periannan of the Salem Diocese, a senior teacher at the seminary who also had been the incumbent rector when Thomas took charge; G Joseph of the Mysore Diocese and Lourdhu Prasad of the Bellary Diocese, both senior teachers of theology at the seminary – as also being involved in the murder.
Investigators have requested the Archdiocese of Bangalore to temporarily transfer the four suspects from the seminary till the probe is completed.
An officer explained that it would be impossible to prevent the suspects from speaking to each other and developing prepared replies if they were allowed to live in the same place. “It is a general rule during investigation that you isolate the suspects and question them separately, so that the contradictions in their versions surface,” he said.
Church sources have confirmed that the four suspects have been temporarily posted at various institutes of the Bangalore Archdiocese.
But their present postings have been kept under wraps. Repeated attempts to contact Archbishop Bernard Moras proved unsuccesful.
Detailed list
A senior official involved in the investigation told Deccan Herald that the investigators have thoroughly studied Xavier’s narco-analysis report and the video recording of the procedure and that they have prepared a thorough questionnaire of the contradictions and revelations made. He added that the investigators have also collated information about some of the new leads they have obtained from the test.
Police are also interrogating the other three suspects using the new information. The officer said the investigators might also subject Periannan, Joseph and Prasad to brain mapping, a polygraph test and narco-analysis.