Jolly Joseph, the prime suspect in the Koodathayi serial killing case, was arrested last week over the death of her first husband Roy Thomas, who died after having cyanide-laced food in 2011.
Along with Roy, Jolly had allegedly killed five other members of her husband’s family over a period of 14 years. All of them had eerily similar deaths as they fainted after having food with froth coming out of their mouths.
Given the time gap between each death and the lack of evidence thereof in other cases, the police has decided to focus more on Roy's death.
The cops can only submit a special report citing the common symptoms for the other five deaths. If separate FIRs are filed for the other deaths, the police may not be able to prove the crime in every case. No post-mortem was conducted in the other five deaths, making it more difficult for the cops to prove the crime.
The Thamarassery Judicial First Class Magistrate on Thursday sent Jolly to police custody for seven days. The police listed the four murder motives- Roy's alcohol addiction and superstitious belief, his suspicion on Jolly's illicit affairs, lack of regular income- in the remand petition submitted to court while seeking custody of the accused. These motives are likely to reflect in the charge-sheet prepared by the cops.
The police are leaving no stone unturned to implicate Jolly in the case. Jolly's statements have proved co-accused Mathew's role in the crime. Mathews' statements reveal how the cyanide was procured. Another accused Prajikumar, a goldsmith, had reportedly given the cyanide to Mathew, who in turn gave it to Jolly. The police have evidence to prove this.
The cops would also collect the statements of witnesses who were aware of problems in Roy and Jolly's marital life.
A BSNL employee, Johnson, had given statements to prove Jolly's illicit relationships with other men. An astrologer in Kattappana and a sorcerer, who were aware of their marital problems, have been cited as a main witness in the case. The post-mortem report which stated that cyanide was the cause of death is expected to help the police pin the case on Jolly.
The fake documents used to grab the property would also be used as evidence against Jolly. The statements of tahsildar Jayasree would also favour police.
