Thiruvananthapuram, September 12: The police affidavit in the Kerala nun rape case has confirmed rape charges against Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal. The police affidavit filed in the Kerala High Court said, "During the course of the investigation so far conducted and the available evidence collected so far, it is revealed that the accused Bishop Franco committed unnatural offence and committed rape repeatedly."

This comes a day after the Bishop, who had been on the run, appeared on television channels on Tuesday, and claimed that he was innocent. The rape-accused priest spoke to reporters from his residence in Punjab's Jalandhar on Tuesday and refuted the rape-charge levelled against him. The Bishop said that he was being targeted by vested forces through a "massive conspiracy". Dismissing the reports which said he was on the run, Mulakkal said he was available for cooperation in the probe.

A 44-year-old nun based in Kerala's Kottayam has alleged that she was raped 12 times between 2014 to 2016. She filed the FIR against Mulakkal on June 27 this year. Six days before her the police complaint was registered, the rape-accused Bishop wrote to the Kerala police, claiming that the nun is targeting him as she was recently transferred on administrative grounds.

The church body on Tuesday shamed the victim and said that the nun was involved in an illicit relationship and an 'innocent soul' shouldn't be sacrificed. In a press statement, the Missionaries of Jesus claimed that the rape allegations on Bishop of Jalandhar, Franco Mulakkal, were totally baseless.

"We strongly condemn the protest in Kochi. We cannot crucify an innocent soul (Bishop) based on such allegations. The allegations are totally baseless. We doubt the nuns are forced into this protest by external influence," the statement read.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 12, 2018 12:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).