Catastrophy struck the Ponnamattom family in the year 2002. Jolly, a young woman from a reputed family got married to Roy Thomas. Everything was good in the hood until 2002 when the retired teacher and Roy’s mother Annamma Thomas (57) died as a result of heart failure. Following that, her husband Tom Thomas (66) died six years after Annamma.
In 2011, Jolly’s husband Roy Thomas (40) died of the same cause which made it suspicious. The autopsy report finally revealed the cause to be dead due to poisoning. However, the murders continued. In 2014, Annamma’s brother, Mathew Manjadiyil (67), died similarly.
In 2016, a relative’s daughter Alphonsa (2), died of a heart attack and within months her mother, Sili (27), also died. Jolly then married Sili’s husband Shaju and claimed ownership of the family property with the support of the last will prepared by her father-in-law Tom.
It was Tom’s younger son Mojo, an NRI in the USA who challenged the ownership to the property and lodged complaints with the Crime Branch regarding the serial deaths. It is shocking that Jolly was able to get away with the serial killings for 17 years until now.
When the Police began interrogating the case, there were discrepancies in the statements of Shaju and Jolly which made them the prime suspects. As investigations unfolded, it was clear that Jolly was present during all the six deaths. Jolly claimed herself to be an engineering graduate working as a lecturer at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) when she was actually a commerce graduate.
The police had also noticed conversations took place between Shaju and Jolly at odd hours and ultimately the presence of Cyanide in all the six dead bodies. “We found that Roy’s death had occurred due to cyanide, while the wife had claimed he had died of cardiac arrest,” police officers added.
“The accused made meticulous plans and charted a safe mode to conceal the murders. We have collected call detail records and are waiting for scientific evidence and exhumed the bodies of the deceased. It was a challenging case”, a police official told INDIA TODAY.
Talking to media, Simon, Kozikhode rural SP, said, “There was an attempt to kill two more kids in a similar fashion.”
47-year-old Jolly, Shaju and two others were arrested on October 5th. Both the men, Prajikumar and MS Matthew, were friends of Jolly. Prajikumar was the one who supplied Cyanide to Jolly when she needed them.
