Jolly Joseph

 

SERVING CYANIDE

The Koodathayi cyanide killings were a series of unnatural deaths, suspected to be murders, that occurred in Koodathayi in Kozhikode District in Kerala, India. The crimes were investigated in late 2019, involving the mystery of 6 deaths over a span of 14 years.

In 2002, Annamma Thomas (aged 57), the mother-in-law of the accused, drank a glass of water after returning home from a walk. Immediately afterwards, she began to feel dizzy, eventually collapsing on the floor. the doctors declared that she had suffered a heart attack.

 In 2008, Tom Thomas (aged 66), Annamma's husband and Jolly's father-in-law, passed away after collapsing. 

In 2011, Roy Thomas (aged 40), Jolly's then husband, died after consuming his dinner of puttu and chickpea curry. He was found dead in a bathroom which was locked from the inside. The cause of death was then ruled as suicide as the post-mortem report showed traces of poison

In 2014, Mathew (aged 68) swooned and died after Jolly allegedly gave him poison-laden whisky. 

The deceased Roy has a cousin named Shaju Zachariah. The same year, Shaju's two-year-old daughter, Alphine Shaju, died after "choking on food".

In 2016, Jolly allegedly gave Sily Shaju (aged 41), Alphine's mother, a mushroom capsule, which Jolly convinced Sily that it would help her with energy and depression and Sily died on the spot soon after.

In 2018, Rojo Thomas came down to Koodathayi and filed a series of RTI applications. From the government hospital, he received a copy of the autopsy report of his brother’s body. “When he read the report, he found out that what Jolly told us was wrong. Jolly told us he had food at 3.30 pm and hadn’t had food after that. But it was clear in the post-mortem report that he had rice and chickpeas curry at 8.30 pm,” said family friend Mohammad Bawa. “Acute cyanide poisoning can result in death in a matter of seconds.” explained Dr V V Pillay, head of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi.

Jolly Joseph who was 47 at the time of her arrest in 2019, was the prime suspect in the murder of six members of the family she married into. It was Renji Thomas, Roy Thomas's sister, who complained to the police about the six unnatural deaths whose investigation led to Jolly Joseph.

M. S. Mathew, a Jewellery shop employee who was also a distant relative and lover of Jolly, he provided Jolly with the cyanide. He reportedly told the police that he procured the cyanide from Praji Kumar after giving him two bottles of alcohol and ₹5,000. Mathew claims that Jolly asked him for cyanide to kill rats in her house.

Praji Kumar was a goldsmith who allegedly gave Mathew the cyanide. He stated that he assumed the poison was being bought to kill rats.

 Following her arrest in October 2019, Jolly has confessed to using cyanide to kill the six aforementioned people. She allegedly obtained the cyanide with the help of M. S. Mathew and Praji Kumar, who have also been arrested.