Another judge associated with the Sister Abhaya case withdrew from it on Wednesday, entrusting the high-profile murder case to a division bench of the high court.
Justice R. Basant is the second judge to withdraw from the case. The provocation: Two days back, Justice K Hema — who had granted bail to the two accused in the case, two priests and a nun — had expressed anguish over Justice Basant interpreting her bail order. She had observed that only the apex court had final say on it.
While granting bail, Justice Hema had pulled up the CBI and its team. But Justice Basant said the CBI shouldn’t take the excuse of the bail order to stop its investigation. Announcing his decision, Justice Basant said he was pained by the “unnecessary controversies”. Earlier, Justice V Ramkumar had withdrawn from the case.