Thiruvananthapuram: Police in Kerala on Saturday took five people into custody following investigation into a trail of mysterious deaths in a family in Kozhikode district that claimed six lives between 2002 and 2016.
On Friday, police had opened graves in two cemeteries at Kodenchery and Koodathayi near Kozhikode to exhume the bodies of the six deceased people.
Those taken into custody on Saturday were Jolly, wife of Roy Thomas, who is one of the deceased, Jolly’s second husband Shaju, a jewellery shop employee identified as Mathew, and two other jewellery staff.
Early indications are that the murders were carried out with the intention of cornering family property.
On Friday, K.G. Simon, rural superintendent of police, Vadakara had said, “We have some reasons to doubt foul play behind the trail of deaths. We are investigating if there is supporting evidence for this”.
Trail of deaths
The deceased are members of the Ponnamattam family and all of the deceased had swooned and collapsed after consuming some food. Mysteriously, Jolly happened to be present at the spot when each one of them died.
The first mysterious death was that of Annamma Thomas, 57, a teacher and wife of Tom Thomas, a retired official of the state education department, in 2002. Six years later, Tom Thomas, 66, also passed away, after swooning and collapsing. Their daughter-in-law Jolly was present on the spot on both occasions.
In 2011, the couple’s son and Jolly’s husband, Roy Thomas, 40 passed away. A post mortem was conducted and traces of poison were found, but since his body was found in a washroom that was locked from inside, it was taken to be a case of suicide.
In 2014, death visited the family again, when Annamma Thomas’ brother, Mathew Manchady, 68 passed away, also exhibiting symptoms similar to those of the others when they died. Significantly, Mathew Manchady had pushed for a proper investigation into Roy Thomas’ death, without success.
The death trail extended in 2016 with two lives being lost — that of Cily, and her daughter Alphine, 2. Cily was the wife of Tom Thomas’s nephew, Shaju, a school teacher.
In 2017, Shaju married Jolly, the widow of his cousin, Roy Thomas.
A grain of doubt
The six deaths did not trigger any major doubt initially partly because they were well spaced out, but when Cily and her infant daughter died within months of each other, doubts arose in the mind of Rojo Thomas, brother of Roy Thomas who is based in the US.
The fact that the post mortem of Roy Thomas had shown traces of poison in the body, and the fact that there was some manipulation with his father’s will appeared to contribute to the suspicion of Rojo Thomas.
Police are believed to have been on the investigation trail for over a year, gathering preliminary information before going on to get permission to exhume the bodies.
Exhumation
On Friday, police began exhumation of the bodies, beginning with the graves of Cily and Alphine at the Kodenchery St Mary’s Church cemetery first, given the fact that their deaths were the most recent — in 2016 — and could hold more solid proof for forensic experts than those of the other deceased who died years earlier.
The others are buried at the Lourdes Matha Church cemetery in Koodathayi.
What experts say
George Joseph, a former superintendent of police, said the details available pointed to a woman mastermind. He said the manipulation of Tom Thomas’ will, and the apparent killing of the child followed by its mother pointed to scheming by a woman.
Criminologist James Vadakkumcheri said if potassium cyanide was used to poison the six deceased, traces would still be found on the mortal remains like the teeth and bones, and that if some other poison was administered, the proof would be more difficult to obtain. “It is too early to say anything in this case”, he said.
Similar case
In 2018, a similar case came to light in the state when a 28-year-old woman, Soumya from Pinarayi in Kannur district was remanded in custody for the murders of her parents Kunhikannan, 76 and Kamala, 68 and her daughters Aishwarya, 9 and Keerthana, 1.
During interrogation she confessed she had killed three of them, and that Keerthana’s was a natural death. Soumya’s statement to police said the incidents began after Aishwarya happened to see her in a compromising position with two youths.
Soumya committed suicide while being in prison as an under-trial prisoner.
