Pala convent nun was not first victim of murder accused

Kottayam: The man held in connection with the murder of a 69-year-old nun in Pala allegedly had killed another elderly nun at a convent near Erattupetta in April this year, police said on Tuesday.

Satheesh Babu, who has been remanded in police custody for the probe into the murder of Sister Amala in Lisieux Carmel Convent at Pala, has "confessed" to having attacked 83-year-old Jose Maria Iruppakkad at her room in the Sacred Heart Convent in Chettuthodu in Erattupetta in April this year, they said.

Iruppakkad was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood on April 17 and was admitted to a private hospital. She died a few days later of injuries to her head, police said.

Babu, who was arrested by Uttarakhand police from Haridwar last week and has been described by Kerala police as a psychopath, had allegedly stolen Rs 70,000 from Sacred Heart Convent.

Police had written off the Sacred Heart Convent case as one of natural death caused by the fall of the nun in her convent room. Iruppakkad was buried in the cemetery of a cathedral in Pala.

Police indicated a re-postmortem of Sister Jose Maria would be done in view of the confession by Babu.

Babu, a habitual drunkard, had also allegedly stolen Rs 6 lakh from another convent in Erattupetta, police said.

Meanwhile, a police team headed by Pala DSP, Suneesh Babu, took Babu to Lisieux Carmel Convent today to collect evidence.

They also took him to a toddy shop and a hospital in Pala as part of the investigation.

Babu, who was absconding after allegedly killing Sister Amala, was brought to the state on Sunday after Kerala police secured his custody through transit warrant from Uttarakhand police on September 25.

He was produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate court in Pala yesterday and was remanded in police custody.

Babu, a native of Kasargod, was arrested last week from the guesthouse of a Kerala Ashram at Haridwar after Kerala police gave a specific input about his presence there.

Police, which had conducted the probe with the help of its cyber cell, has said Babu that is a serial offender targeting convents.

Sister Amala was found on September 17 lying in a pool of blood inside her convent room. There was a deep injury with a sharp-edged weapon on her back and minor wounds on her forehead.