Kozhikode: The first chargesheet in the sensational Koodathayi murder case is likely to be filed this month.
The investigation team has received instructions from their superiors to prepare chargesheet in the Roy Thomas murder case before December 20. Ahead of finalising the chargesheet, the investigation team will hold discussions with the special prosecutor in the case.
Earlier it was decided that the chargesheet in the Roy murder case should be filed without waiting for the forensic examination report. This was in view of the intimation received by the police that the forensic examination report might get delayed further.
A chargesheet as the name suggests involves charging an individual or organisation for the crime or crimes as stated in the First Information Report or FIR.
In case if the investigation officials decide to wait for the report there is a possibility of the main accused Jolly getting bail in the natural course. (If the chargesheet is not presented within 90 days of the arrest in normal cases, the accused should be given bail.)
However, the big question is how the investigation team will prepare a water-tight case in the absence of concrete scientific evidence. It is in this backdrop that it was decided to file the chargesheet in the only case in the murder series, in which an autopsy was conducted soon after death. The postmortem report, which stated that Roy died due to presence of cyanide in the body, is the scientific proof that the investigation team is going to pace in the case.
The police know that even if Jolly, who was Roy's wife, gets bail in other five murder cases, she would not be able to come out of jail in the Roy murder case as she would not be granted bail due to the robust scientific evidence against her.
Jolly's relative M S Mathew, and a goldsmith Prajikumar are also accused in the Roy murder case.
Jolly was initially arrested in October for killing her husband Roy. During interrogation, she reportedly confessed to killing six members of her husband’s family one after the other by giving them poison-laced food or drink. The family is based at Koodathayi in Kerala's Kozhikode district.
Roy Thomas had died on September 30, 2011. Though the Kodancherry police registered a case of unnatural death, it was initially concluded as a case of suicide as his body was found inside the washroom that was locked from inside. The police later decided to reopen Roy's case in order to reinvestigate all the six mysterious deaths after a complaint was filed by his US-based brother Rojo.
Jolly had allegedly first killed her mother-in-law Annamma Thomas in 2002, then father-in-law Tom Thomas in 2008. Next, she targeted her husband in 2011. Later she eliminated three other relatives including a mother-daughter duo.
