Three held for Kerala murders spanning 14 yrs

A day after six graves were opened to exhume the remains of six people in Kerala, the police on Saturday arrested three persons for allegedly killing them over a span of 14 years with cyanidelaced food.

Police said the murders took place between 2002 and 2016, and were well-planned and executed. Jolly Thomas, 47, the wife of Roy Thomas, who died under mysterious circumstances in 2011, is central to all the murder plots, they said.

“We arrested Jolly Thomas, her friend M Mathew who arranged potassium cyanide and a jewellery worker Praju Kumar, who supplied the poisonous substance,” said Kozhikkode rural superintendent of police KG Simon, who supervised the investigation. He said the police had been investigating the case for the past two months.

The first victim was Anamma Thomas in 2002; her husband Tom Thomas was allegedly killed in 2008, their son Roy Thomas in 2011 and another relative, Mathew Manjadiyil, the brother of Anamma, in 2014. Two years later, another relative, Sily, and her one-year-old child died under mysterious circumstances. All the victims died after eating food, the police said, adding that Jolly Thomas was present when all six deaths took place. The police suspect that Jolly Thomas was having an extramarital affair and her greed for the family property led her to plan the murders.

Police began the probe after one of the sons of the late Tom Thomas, Roji Thomas, who is settled in the United States, raised suspicions about the mysterious deaths.

Jolly Thomas’ second marriage, with a person identified as Shaju Scaria, and the death of his former wife Sily and child under similar circumstances added to his suspicion, the police said.

“During the investigation, we found Jolly had been faking her job for 14 years.

She printed a card claiming she was a lecturer at the National Institute of Technology in Kozhikkode. Later we found she was only a B Com graduate,” said the SP.

He said the arrests had been made in connection with the 2016 murder of mother and son and in the others they need scientific evidence to corroborate the murder theory.

“All arrested admitted their role. But we need scientific evidence since some of the crimes took place 17 years ago. We are waiting for detailed forensic reports,” he said.