The nun in Delhi. (File picture)

Cuttack, Jan. 5: An Orissa nun today identified two persons as her rapists in an identification parade of 90 prisoners, who included 10 suspects in the crime.

The 29-year-old nun was allegedly raped on August 25 during the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal district.

Father Thomas Chellan, the prime witness, was called first but could not identify anyone. He apparently walked in front of them three times, looking at each face carefully, but shook his head after nearly 40 minutes.

The nun took almost the same time, also walking in front of the lines three times, police sources said.

All the 10 accused arrested on suspicion of being involved in the rape were brought to the ID parade at Choudwar circle jail, 11km from here. Sub-divisional judicial magistrate P.K. Das, who conducted the parade, also included 80 jail inmates, the sources said.

“The (alleged) victim identified two persons who had raped her,” inspector-general of police Arun Roy said.

Orissa police, who began investigating the case a month later, arrested 10 persons, including three who had apparently fled to Kerala.

But much depended on the test identification parade, which could not be held over the past 50 days since the nun had left Orissa to recover from her trauma. A chargesheet must be filed by January 28, within 120 days of the arrests.

“It’s good that the parade has finally been conducted,” the archbishop of the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack diocese, Raphael Cheenath, said.