The examination of witnesses in the Roy Thomas murder case will begin at the Kozhikode Special Additional Sessions Court (Marad cases) on Tuesday. Roy was the third victim in the Koodathayi serial killing case, in which 158 witnesses will be examined by the court by March 18.
Though Renji Thomas, the first witness and sister of Roy, deposed before the court to testify on Monday as per the previously announced schedule, the case was adjourned to Tuesday following the appeal of Jolly Joseph, the first accused in the case, that she wanted to talk in person with her lawyer ahead of the process. Lawyer B.A. Aloor appeared on behalf of the defence counsel who was permitted to talk with the accused till 5 p.m. on Monday.
The case was adjourned to Tuesday also considering the appeal of the defence counsel to produce the second accused M.S. Mathew in person in court rather than through video-conference. It was approved by the court. Jolly also moved an appeal to talk in person with Mathew, which will be considered by the court on Wednesday.
Jolly has been accused of murder, conspiracy, and forging documents in the case. The other two accused mentioned in the chargesheet are Mathew and Prajikumar, who were charged with conspiracy and incitement. Manoj, the fourth accused, was charged for his suspected role in helping Jolly forge land documents and grab the property of the Ponnamattam family.
It was between 2002 and 2016 that the chain of suspected murders took place in Kozhikode’s Koodathayi village. The first suspected victim was Jolly’s mother-in-law Annamma Thomas, 57, a retired teacher who died in 2002. Six years later, Jolly’s father-in-law Tom Thomas, 66, died of “heart failure”. In 2011, her husband Roy also died under suspicious circumstances.
Annamma’s brother Mathew Manchadiyil was found dead in 2014. In 2016, Sily, wife of Shaju Zachariya, who is Roy’s cousin and Jolly’s second husband, and Sily’s one-year-old daughter Alphine died. The police launched a comprehensive probe into the incident, subsequent to a complaint filed by Rojo Thomas, the youngest son of Tom Thomas, with the then Superintendent of Police (Kozhikode Rural ) K.G. Simon. On October 5, 2019, a Special Investigation Team arrested Jolly along with her two suspected partners in the crime.
The police had submitted 322 incriminating documents and 22 material objects to support the case. Among the six who were found dead under mysterious circumstances, a post-mortem examination was conducted only on the body of Roy. The autopsy revealed poisoning as the cause of death. The police had submitted an 8,000-page chargesheet against the accused. The trial in the case was delayed due to the pandemic outbreak.
Published - March 06, 2023 08:14 pm IST
