E-Paper
SIT files 1,800-page charge-sheet in first of cyanide serial killing cases
Jolly Joseph allegedly killed five other members of her immediate and extended family between 2002 and 2016 with cyanide.
The special investigation team (SIT) probing the serial cyanide killings in north Kerala filed its first charge-sheet on Wednesday in which Jolly Joseph (47) has been arraigned as the first accused in the murder of her husband Roy Thomas, K G Simon, head of the SIT said.
The SIT filed the 1,800-page charge-sheet in the court of the Thamarassery first class judicial magistrate.
Jolly Joseph allegedly killed five other members of her immediate and extended family between 2002 and 2016 with cyanide.
The SIT had arrested four people last October for allegedly killings six members of the Ponnamatam family in a span of 14 years by giving them cyanide-laced food. These murders took place between 2002 and 2016. The other accused are Mathew, Prachi Kumar and K Manoj, a former CPI(M) leader who was later expelled from the party.
“We have filed 1800-page charge-sheet. We are working on other cases also and different charge-sheets will be filed soon. Besides Jolly three more accused are there. We have submitted a list of 246 witnesses also. We have investigated the case scientifically,” said Simon.
Among the witnesses are her two children whose statements were recorded before a magistrate. All four have been charged with murder, conspiracy, destroying of evidence, forgery and other charges.
Simon said his team members had recovered cyanide from Jolly’s house. The SIT also submitted the post-mortem report of Roy Thomas which clearly indicated the presence of poisonous substance in the viscera.
“During investigation we found initially she laced poisonous substance with chickpea curry he had for the dinner. When he sought water after feeling uneasy she gave him water, that was also spiked,” he said adding she was also plotted two more killings. He said after some of the earlier killings went unnoticed she got emboldened to carry out more such murders.
“We got suspicious when she fiercely opposed the opening of six graves. She also tried to influence some of the family members saying such acts will invite the wrath of the dead,” Simon said.
Along with the charge-sheet the SIT has also submitted three of Jolly’s fake educational certificates for B.Com, M.Com and UGC Net. The SIT later found that though she enrolled in B.Com she did not complete the degree. She worked as a professor at the National institute of Technology (NIT) in Calicut for at least 14 years with the help of fake certificates. The SIT had also recovered a forged identity card of the NIT.
While Jolly remained the first accused, the other two accused M S Mathew and Prachi Kumar were booked for procuring cyanide for her. And fourth accused Manoj Kumar had helped her for creating a forged will. The SIT also found that Shaju Zacharia, Jolly’s second husband, was not aware of the plot to eliminate Roy. Zacharia was questioned several times by the SIT.
Roy Thomas’ mother Anamma Thomas who had retired as a teacher was the first to die in 2002. Her husband Tom Thomas, also a retired teacher, died six years later in 2008. Their son Roy Thomas (first husband of Jolly) died in 2011 and another relative Mathew, who was Anamma’s brother, died in 2014. In 2016 another relative Sily and her one year-old child died under mysterious circumstances. All deaths were believed to be “natural” till the six bodies were exhumed and forensic examination identified cyanide poisoning.
