The preliminary arguments in two of the cases in the Koodathayi serial deaths will begin on Tuesday. The Kozhikode Principal Sessions court will hear the cases related to death of Roy Thomas, former husband of the prime accused Jolly Joseph and Sily - former wife of Jolly’s current husband Shaju Zacharias.
The main accused in both cases as well as in the other four deaths that took place in the family is 48-year-old Jolly Joseph, who is the deceased Roy Thomas’s ex wife. Jolly is accused of using cyanide and poisoning to death six members of her husband’s family and extended family over 14 years.
Five people, including Jolly, have been named accused in the Roy Thomas murder case, but for different charges. Jolly’s friend MS Mathew, a goldsmith identified as Prajikumar who allegedly supplied the cyanide to the 48-year-old, local CPI(M) leader K Manoj Kumar and advocate and notary C Vijayakumar are named accused. The chargesheet states that Jolly had poisoned Roy Thomas’s dinner in order to murder him and claim the family property.
According to reports, investigations in the case found that the cyanide used to kill Roy Thomas was given to Jolly by MS Mathew and was sourced by Prajikumar. Jolly had also prepared a fake will in order to take control of Roy’s assets. Manoj Kumar has been accused of helping the prime accused prepare the fake document and C Vijayakumar, the notary, has been accused of stamping and approving it despite it being fake.
Sily is the former wife of Jolly’s second husband Shaju. The chargesheet submitted by the police states that Jolly had poisoned Sily to death in 2016, in order to be able to marry Shaju. In the case related to Sily’s death, the chargesheet only names Jolly, MS Mathew and Prajikumar as accused.
Special prosecutor NK Unnikrishnan will appear for the prosecution and criminal lawyer BA Aloor will appear before the court for Jolly in the case.
Between 2002 and 2016, prime accused Jolly Joseph allegedly poisoned to death six members of her husband’s family. This includes her mother-in-law Annamma Thomas (Roy’s mother), father-in-law Tom Thomas, Annamma’s brother Mathew Manjadiyil, first husband Roy Thomas, Sily - wife of Shaju Zacharias who is Roy’s cousin, and Sily and Shaju‘s one-year-old daughter Alphine.
Jolly is represented by BA Aloor, a high profile criminal, lawyer who had also appeared for Govindachamy alias Charly, the main accused in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman named Sowmya back in 2016. Aloor has represented Govindachamy in the Supreme Court along with two other lawyers and even helped get the accused’s sentence commuted.