Priest''s death: Doctors conduct autopsy; refuse to share details

Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, October 23

A board of doctors at the Dasuya Civil Hospital on Tuesday conducted autopsy of a Catholic priest whose death continues to be shrouded in mystery.

Forensic expert Dr Jaswinder Singh, who was a part of a team of four doctors that conducted Father Kuriakose’s postmortem examination, refused to reveal details of their findings.

“We cannot even give a preliminary report today. We are sending samples for a histopathology report to Government Medical College Amritsar and a chemical report to Kharar. The reports could take as long as 2-3 months. Only after that can we give our conclusion,” he said, refusing to confirm if the priest had died of a heart attack.

Jalandhar Diocese arranged a prayer meeting for Kuriakose at St Mary’s Cathedral in Jalandhar Cantonment, where his body was taken, on Tuesday.

The priest’s family then took his body to Ludhiana’s CMC Hospital for embalming. They are scheduled to fly back to Kerala from Delhi on Monday for Kuriakose’s burial on scheduled on Thursday.  He will be buried at Alappuzha’s Pallippuram, his village.

The priest was a key witness in a rape case in which Bishop Franco Mullakal of Jalandhar Diocese stands accused.

Mullakkal has been accused of raping a nun repeatedly between 2014 and 2016.

Kuriakose, who deposed against Mullakal almost two months ago, was found dead on Sunday at his residence at St Paul’s Convent School, Dasuya. His family claims his death had to do with the rape case.    

Meanwhile, Devinder Puri, SMO, Dasuya Civil Hospital, said the police had not given them the papers as yet and the post-mortem would be done after the police gave him the papers.

He said all depended on police papers; if they wanted a medical board they would constitute it and then perform the post-mortem.

Earlier, police on Tuesday visited the quarters in St Paul’s church where Father Kuriakose, witness in the Kerala nun rape case, was found dead on Monday.

The SHO said, “Prima facie, it was a natural death. But it will be ascertained after the post-mortem.”

He said the door handle was broken by the locals to take the body out, and they had checked it. With agencies