Kochi, Wednesday, 26 May 2010: Syrian Jacobite Church priest Fr. Vargheese Thekkekara (50) an accused in the murder of Vargheese, a senior office-bearer of the rival Malankara Orthodox Church has today filed a plea for anticipatory bail in High Court .

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had earlier filed charge sheet against Fr. Thekkekara before Ernakulam Chief Magistrate Court, here. The report says that Varghese Thekekara, the manager of the Angamali diocese of the Syrian Jacobite church, has been named the first accused in the murder of Malankara Varghese in December 2002.

Earlier report

On investigation, the CBI’s Chennai unit, which began in September 2007, accused 19 people of the murder and said it was possibly due to the long standing feud between the Malankara Orthodox Church, headquartered in Kottayam, and the Syrian Jacobite Church, which has its headquarters in Ernakulam district.

The century-old feud between the two churches has always been a bother for successive governments in the state and on several occasions in the past feuds between the followers of the two churches have ended in brawls.

Initially, the murder of Varghese was considered a crime conducted by his business rivals, but five long years of probe by the state police’s crime branch yielded nothing conclusive.

Varghese’s widow then approached the Kerala High Court and in September 2007, the court asked the CBI to launch the probe.

The truth came out last month when the CBI arrested Joy Varghese alias Cement Joy, who confessed he had hired the criminals who committed the murder for a large sum of money