Hundreds gather outside Kerala court to see cyanide killer
Kozhikode: Hundreds of people gathered outside a court to catch a glimpse of an accused in Kerala's Kozhikode on Thursday as a woman who has allegedly confessed to killing at least six people over money and property, was led away by the police.
Jolly Shaju, 47, is the main accused in the sensational Kerala serial killings that have captivated the nation over the past few days.
Along with two other accused, Jolly was sent to police custody for six days. The other two are 44-year-old MS Mathew, a friend of Jolly, and Prajikumar, 48, who allegedly supplied the cyanide used by Jolly to murder at least half-a-dozen people.
The three will now be produced before the court on October 16. The challenge is that the six murders span 14 years - from 2002 to 2016.
The investigating officer, KG Simon, says Jolly confessed to poisoning all six allegedly for money and property.
Jolly was arrested on October 5 over the death of her husband Roy Thomas in 2012 following consumption of cyanide-laced food. Police claimed her role in the death of five others, too, was revealed in the further investigation.
Forensic experts had exhumed mortal remains of the six victims from their graves and conducted post-mortem on October 4.
Among the two other accused, M.S. Mathew (44) is a close friend of Jolly while Praju Kumar (48) had allegedly supplied cyanide to Mathew who handed it over to Jolly. Meanwhile, high-profile criminal lawyer Biju Antony Aloor aka B.A. Aloor said on Wednesday that he would defend Jolly in the case.
Jolly is accused of killing all the six by serving them cyanide-laced food between 2002 and 2016.
While Annamma Thomas had died in 2002, her husband Tom Thomas passed away six years later in 2008. Later, their son Roy Thomas died in 2011. Annamma's brother Mathew died in 2014 and two relatives—Sili and her one-year-old daughter—in 2016.
Jolly later married their relative Shaju, who was the husband of Sili and father of the one-year-old daughter who had died in 2016.