Kozhikode: A day after it came to light that the crucial records on the death of Roy Thomas, one of the six victims of the Koodathayi serial killings, were not provided to the magistrate court at Thamarassery, the Kozhikode District Collector intervened to fast-track it.
The police had sought the files to be transferred to the magistrate court from a lower court at Kozhikode nearly a couple of months ago as soon as it was found Roy was murdered. However, as highlighted by Malayala Manorama on Saturday, the records were not submitted yet even though the magistrate had pointed it out whenever the three accused in the case, including the alleged killer Jolly Thomas, were presented in the court.
After coming across the news, Collector S Sambasiva Rao, who is also the District Magistrate, instructed Sub-Collector G Priyanka to transfer the files and soon they finally reached its destination.
Priyanka is in charge of the sub-divisional magistrate court.
The records pertaining to the Roy’s death, including the First Information Report (FIR), had been at the sub-divisional magistrate court, which deals with unnatural deaths.
Roy and other five members of the Ponnamattom family at Koodathayi in Kerala's Kozhikode district were murdered one after the other from 2002 to 2016. Roy, who was found dead in 2011, was suspected to have committed suicide and a case of unnatural death was initially filed. Soon, the records of Roy’s death were kept at the sub-divisional magistrate court.
However, acting on a complaint by Roy’s brother, police had recently commenced a probe into the mysterious deaths in the family and found that Roy was murdered. His wife Jolly Joseph, who was arrested earlier this month, confessed to killing him as well as five other members of his family by giving them cyanide-laced food or drink. The police then wanted the files to be moved to the magistrate court, which considers the cases in the Kodenchery police limits under which comes the Koodathayi village.
District Crime Branch DySP R Haridasan, who is probing the case, then filed a request for this at the sub-divisional magistrate court on September 2. Though the case was moved to the Thamarassery court, the FIR and other records were not provided even after the formal request was made.
Meanwhile, three suspects in the case were arrested and presented in the court. Each time the case was taken up for hearing, the magistrate reminded that the records on the file had not been submitted yet.
