On Monday, the CBI informed a court hearing the Sister Abhaya murder case in Kochi that it was Sister Sephy, who was under arrest along with two priests, who hit the nun on the head with a hand-held axe.

CBI further said that Sister Abhaya was attacked since she saw Sister Sephy in a compromising situation with the two priests at the Pius X Convent hostel in Kottayam district.

CBI told that the nun was scared that Sister Abhaya would disclose her illegal relationships with the priests - father Thomas M Kottur and father Jose Poothrikkayil. Sister Abhaya, according to the investigating agency, witnessed the intimate acts when she came to drink water early in the morning. Sephy struck her twice behind the ears and a third time on her head, CBI told the court of the chief judicial magistrate.

It added, “The priests then dumped her body in the convent well where she died of drowning. Soon after, the trio also started spreading canards to establish that it was a suicide.”

The court has further extended the legal custody of the three accused till January 12 after CBI submitted that some external forces were still trying to influence the case and give the wrong impression about the investigators.