KOZHIKODE: The District Crime Branch on Saturday made a major breakthrough in the sensational multiple murder case at Koodathayi near Thamarassery in Kozhikode, arresting three persons including a woman who is the mastermind of the crime series. Of the trio, two are close relatives of the family of the deceased persons while the third is a friend of the co-accused.
The arrested three are Jollyamma Joseph, 47, former wife of deceased Roy Thomas (third death in the series), M S Mathew alias Shaji, 44, and Praji Kumar P, 48. The arrests were made in the murder case of Roy.
Kozhikode Rural SP KG Simon said Jollyamma, the prime accused in all six murders, has already confessed to her involvement in the killings.
“To start with, we investigated the mysterious death of Roy Thomas, former husband of Jollyamma, based on a complaint lodged by Rojo Thomas, the younger brother of the deceased. As per the postmortem report, he died after consuming cyanide. Then we initiated a probe to find the source of the poison and it led us to Mathew, who provided the poison to Jollyamma.
During interrogation, Mathew, the second accused, revealed he got it from Praji Kumar, an employee at a jewellery shop. After receiving specific evidence and statement of witnesses proving the trio’s involvement in the crime, the arrests were made,” said the SP.
The police charged sections IPC 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 (acts done by several people with common intention) and 365 (abduction) of IPC and later produced the three before the court.
Various motives
The police said Jollyamma had multiple reasons including grabbing family property, disappointment in her married life and extra-marital relationship to commit the crime.
Jollyamma developed animosity towards Annamma as the latter was holding command over family properties. She decided to kill Tom to grab it by forging documents.
She killed Roy as she wanted to find a better partner, the police said. And since she wanted to marry Shaju, a close relative, she finished off his wife Sily and one-year-old Alphine.
The rural SP further said investigation into the remaining murders is going on and more details will be known later. “We’re waiting for the forensic test report of bodies of all the six victims which were exhumed on Friday,” he said.