Thiruvananthapuram: A special CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram today sentenced to life imprisonment a Catholic priest and a nun for the murder of Sister Abhaya, 28 years after the crime.

The sentencing came a day after the two were held guilty by the court. Sister Abhaya, 21, was murdered and her body was dumped inside the well of a convent in Kottayam in 1992.

Both accused Thomas Kotoor and Sister Sefi were found guilty of murder (Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code), Section 449 (house trespassing to commit a crime) and Section 201 (destroying evidence) and other sections of the IPC.

In 1992, 19-year-old Sister Abhaya, a plus-two student, was found dead in the well of the Pious X Convent in Kottayam. The case was initially dismissed as a suicide by the state police and crime branch, but the CBI later concluded that it was murder. In 2009, the CBI charge-sheeted Catholic priest Thomas Kottoor and Sister Sephy in the case.

As per the CBI, Sister Abhaya was witness to intimate contacts between Kottoor, another Father, Jose Poothrikkayil, and Sephy on 27 March, 1992 as she went from her hostel room to the kitchen at around 4.15 am.Between 4:15 am and 5 am, the accused allegedly hit Sister Abhaya with a blunt object and threw her body in to the well to cover-up the crime.