Kozhikode woman Jolly killed husband, 5 relatives in 15 yrs, 2002 to 2016

www.mangaloretoday.com

Kozhikode, Oct 6, 2019: Six members of a family who died mysteriously over a period of 15 years from 2002 in Kozhikode, Kerala are suspected to be victims of heinous serial murders by a woman and two of her aides. The three were arrested by the Kerala police on October 5, Saturday. The deceased include the woman’s husband and family members.

The crimes were unravelled after another member of the family raised suspicion. Also, it was found that all the victims died immediately after consuming food and the woman was present at the time of all the deaths which took place from 2002 to 2016 at Koodathai, about 30 km from Kozhikode city.  Police identified the suspects as Jolly Joseph (47), M S Mathew alias Shaji (44) and Praji Kumar (48).

Kozhikode rural superintendent of police K G Simon said the three were now arrested in connection with murder of Jolly’s husband Roy in 2011.  Potassium cyanide was the substance used that caused Roy’s death, which till now was thought to be suicide.  Jolly masterminded the murder with the motive of inheriting the family’s wealth.  Saji, who worked at a jewellery shop collected potassium cyanide from Praji Kumar, a gold smith, and gave it to Jolly, who was his friend.

The serial deaths began with Annama (57), a retired school teacher, in 2002 followed by her husband Thomas (66) in 2008, their son Roy Thomas (40) in 2011, Annama’s brother Mathew (68) in 2014, Roy’s paternal cousin Shaju’s daughter Alphine (1) in 2014 and Shaju’s wife Sily in 2016. All the victims collapsed and died immediately after having food. Only Roy’s body was subjected to an autopsy which revealed the presence of potassium cyanide. But the probe was closed as suicide.

A fresh investigation was initiated a couple of months ago after Roy’s brother Rojo filed a complaint when Jolly tried to illegally inherit the family wealth by forging documents.

The police’s assumption was that Jolly killed her mother-in-law to get control over the family. The father-in-law may have been killed as he refused to hand over more family wealth to Roy, who had already got his share in cash. Jolly and Roy had a strained relationship and this could have led to Roy’s killing. Roy’s uncle Mathew insisted on a detailed probe into Roy’s death and this could be the provocation for his killing. The provocations for killing Roy’s cousin Shaju’s wife Sily and their child was not clear. But Shaju and Jolly got married later. Police said that so far there was no evidence of Shaju’s involvement in the serial killing though it can’t be ruled out.

The SP said that so far, evidence was collected only about the involvement of the accused in Roy’s murder. The probe into other deaths would be also initiated.  Jolly, who holds a degree in commerce, lied to her relatives that she was a B.Tech and was working as a lecturer at NIT Kozhikode. She also used to go to work daily over the last 15 years. There were reports that she was having illicit affairs and was in financial trouble.

Though the police opened the family tomb on Friday to collect specimens of the bodies for scientific examination, only two bodies could be recovered. The remains of other bodies were suspected to have been shifted during renovation of the cemetery, said the police.