India arrests 2 priests, nun in 1992 killing

From Harmeet Shah Singh
CNN
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) - Federal police arrested two Roman Catholic
priests and a nun Wednesday in the 16-year-old killing of a nun whose body was
found in a well in southern India.

Police have arrested Father Thomas Kottor, Father Jose Poothrikkayil and
a nun known as Sister Sephy, said Harsh Bhal, a spokesman for India's Central
Bureau of Investigation.They have been arrested in the death of Sister Abhaya, whose body was
found in a well in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 1992. Her full name
was unavailable.

Defense counsel Chullutharayil Padmanabhan Udaybhanu insisted his clients
were innocent and that he would challenge their arrest in a higher court.

The arrest follows 12 previous attempts to crack the case, according to
CNN-IBN, a CNN sister network in India.

The Central Bureau of Investigation took over the case from state police
in 1994, Bhal said.