Kozhikode: A 47-year-old woman who allegedly poisoned to death her husband and five other family members at Koodathyi in Kozhikode district has reportedly confessed to the chilling crime soon after her arrest on Saturday. As the probe gets under way with the arrest of three people, including the woman, it has come to light that more murders were likely planned and at least one escaped a bid years ago.

Jolly Joseph – wife of Roy Thomas, one of her victims – had allegedly mixed cyanide in the food to eliminate each family member over the years to get hold of the property and attain other personal goals.

Her aides M S Mathew (Shaji) and Praju Kumar were also arrested.

The Thamarassery first-class judicial magistrate court remanded the three accused for two weeks. A plea, seeking their police custody, would be considered on Wednesday.

The crime

As reported earlier six members of the family had died under mysterious circumstances from 2002 to 2014. The police probed the deaths based on a relative’s complaint, unearthing the shocking details of the murders that took place over 14 years.

The victims were Tom Thomas of Ponnamattom house, 66, his wife Annamma Thomas, 57, son Roy Thomas, 40, Tom's brother's daughter-in-law Sily Shaju, 44, her two-year-old daughter Alphine, and Annamma's brother Mathew Manjadiyil, 68.

The police said Jolly gave cyanide-laced food or drink to all the six victims. After having food, all six had froth coming out of their mouths, fainted and died. The police have also got circumstantial evidence to prove this.

Jolly was present at the spot when each of the victim died. It was also found that Jolly had tried to grab her father-in-law Tom's property using a fake will.

In 2017, a year after Sily's death, Jolly married her husband Shaju Zacharia. Foul play was suspected after a part of the family property was soon allegedly grabbed by Jolly.

Tom's another son, Rojo who is in the US, had given a complaint to the police in July. Special branch SI Jeevan George conducted the preliminary investigation, unearthing the shocking murders.

Source of cyanide

The police suspect that Mathew, 44, had supplied cyanide to Jolly for all six murders.

Mathew, however, said that he had first given cyanide to Jolly in 2008. In his statement to the police, Mathew said Jolly had sought cyanide for killing a dog.

Jolly's father-in-law Tom had died in 2008. But the police suspect that Mathew had given cyanide to Jolly in 2002 as well, when Tom's wife Annamma had died.

Mathew, a jewellery employee, had sourced the cyanide from Praju Kumar, a goldsmith who works in the same firm. However, the police found discrepancies in the statements of the duo. Kumar said that he had given cyanide to Mathew only once. However, Mathew said that he had given cyanide to Jolly twice.

An autopsy had found traces of cyanide in Roy's body. Hence the police recorded their arrests in this case. However, the cops said that the three were behind other deaths as well.

The police would initiate action on other five people's deaths after the results of the forensic tests are available. The five bodies were exhumed on Friday and their mortal remains sent for tests.

Jolly's ties with Mathew

Mathew, a relative of Roy, used to frequently visit their home. Jolly had got acquainted to Mathew years ago.

After he came to know that Roy had died after consuming cyanide, Mathew realised Jolly's plot. They quarrelled over this but later made up. The police said that Mathew had even objected to Jolly marrying Shaju in 2017.

However, the police could not find any evidence to connect Shaju to the murders.

Jolly’s family in the dark

Jolly, a native of Kattapana in Idukki district, had visited her home two weeks ago. Her father Joseph said that he was not aware of his daughter’s deeds.
Her own family did not have any suspicions over the deaths or Jolly's involvement. However, they were aware that she had a property dispute with brother-in-law Rojo after Roy's death.

The property row was not settled and Jolly had financial difficulties, Joseph added.

Joseph also said that his daughter had taken the initiative for marrying Shaju. "Let the police probe reveal everything," he added.

Jolly's remarriage

Jolly was reportedly attracted to Shaju because of his calm nature and teaching profession. Jolly used to tell her relatives that Shaju's wife Sily was 'really lucky'.

She decided to kill Sily's two-year-old daughter Alphine as she believed the little child to be an obstacle in her goal, police said.

Jolly subsequently killed Sily at a dental hospital. A year after Sily's death, Jolly took the initiative and married Shaju. 

Sily and Shaju have a son.

The two sons of Jolly and Roy are currently under the care of Roy's sister.

Sister-in-law likely escaped?

The police have also found that Jolly had tried to kill Roy's sister Reji too by giving cyanide. This was after Annamma's death in 2002. After drinking an ayurvedic tonic given by Jolly, Reji fell sick. It was only after she drank lots of water that she felt better.

Reji reportedly told the police that she did not suspect any foul play then and only now she realised it was a murder attempt.

DGP reacts

DGP Loknath Behera has said that the police would check if there was any laxity in the first stage of investigation into the Koodathayi deaths.

"Currently, the rural SP is efficiently leading the investigation. The first step is to bring the accused before the law,” the top cop said.

Reacting to the developments in the case, Kozhikode rural SP K G Simon said, "Good that Jolly has been arrested. It is suspected that she had plotted more murders."

Jolly's Six Victims

Annamma; death 22–08-2002

Jolly's mother-in-law Annamma was eliminated as she managed the financial affairs at home. Jolly believed that she would get that authority if her mother-in-law died. Jolly also suffered from an inferiority complex as she did not have any means of income.

Annamma had fainted right after she had mutton soup on that fateful day when the murder series commenced. Though she had been earlier taken to the hospital with similar symptoms, the reason could not be identified.

The relatives had pointed fingers at the hospital after Annamma's death. The police now suspect it to be a case of murder.

Tom Thomas; death 26- 08-2008

Tom Thomas, Jolly's father-in-law, was killed to grab property. He had sold 2.5 acres of paddy field and handed over the money to Jolly. However, as he said that she would have no claim on any other property, Jolly was upset.

She gave cyanide-laced tapioca to Tom to finish him off on a day when Roy was out of station.

The police also received information that she had fabricated a fake will, which stated that after Tom's death the family property would be passed on to only Roy and Jolly.

Roy Thomas; death 30 -09- 2011

Jolly's husband Roy Thomas was killed likely for objecting to her friendships. The couple frequently quarrelled over this.

Jolly also assumed that she would get the entire property after Roy's death.

She killed him after allegedly mixing cyanide in rice and chickpea (kadala) curry.

A post-mortem had found the traces of cyanide in his body. However, his death was portrayed as a case of suicide then. As some of the relatives did not want to make this public, fearing disgrace, no investigation was held into Roy's death.

Jolly had also reportedly intervened to scuttle a probe.

M M Mathew; death 24-02-2014

He was a relative of Jolly, still there was a strong motive to kill him.

Mathew, Annamma’s brother, had earned Jolly's wrath for insisting on a post-mortem soon after Roy's death.

After cyanide traces were found in Roy's body, he had raised doubts over the other deaths too.

Mathew was alone at his house on the fateful day. Jolly, who lived nearby, informed everyone else about his death. She has now confessed to the police that she went to his house and gave him cyanide-laced coffee.

Alphine, death 03-05-2014, and her mother Sily, death 11 - 01 - 2016

Jolly had an eye on Shaju, her husband's cousin, who was already married to Sily.

She eliminated the mother-daughter duo to attain her goal.

Alphine was just two years old when she was killed.

Jolly subsequently killed Alphine's mother Sily at a dental hospital. 

A year after Sily's death, Jolly herself took the initiative and married the twice-bereaved Shaju.