Koodathayi case: Jolly had owned up to murders as police started probe, claim kin, friend

Jolly. Photo: Manorama News/ Screengrab

Kozhikode: In a crucial development in the sensational Koodathayi serial murder case, Johnson, a close friend of the accused Jolly, told the court that she had disclosed to him that she had committed all six murders.

Johnson also informed the Kozhikode additional sessions court that Jolly had also sought his help to remove the mortal remains of the victims from the burial vaults. She also gave him some gold jewellery to find money to conduct the case, said Johnson.

“Jolly invited me to her house on October 2, 2019, soon after the police launched an investigation into the murders. She told me that the police would open the vaults as part of the probe and that the remains of the victims should be removed from there before the investigators arrived. She urged me to help her in this regard,” said Johnson in his statement before the court.

“I asked Jolly why was she panicking over the police probe. Jolly told me that if the police exhumed the bodies for forensic examination, she would be in trouble because she had poisoned one of the victims and mixed cyanide with the food served to the five others,” said Johnson.

According to Johnson, Jolly had told him that it was co-accused M S Mathew who supplied her the cyanide. 

“Jolly had given me some gold earlier also. Along with that, the total gold I received from her weighed 194 grams. I later surrendered all this gold to the police,” said Johnson before the court. Johnson, who is witness number 21 in the case, had been close to Jolly since 2015.

During the first phase of the trial, statements of 158 among the 200-odd witnesses are recorded. Special prosecutor N K Unnikrishnan appeared for the prosecution.

Siblings too testify against Jolly

Earlier, Jolly’s siblings Babu Joseph and Tomy Joseph also testified before the court that she had confessed to the crime.

“Jolly had taken Rs 2 lakh from our father ostensibly to obtain a job at the National Institute of Technology – Calicut (NIT-C). She also gave us a fake will in the name of her father-in-law Tom Thomas for safe-keeping,” Jolly’s brothers told the court.

Jolly’s brothers gave statements in favour of the prosecution during the trial of the murder case of her first husband Roy Thomas. They also revealed that Jolly confessed on the day the police exhumed the bodies.

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