The special investigation team probing the sensational Koodathayi murder saga have found a new link to uncover prime suspect Jolly's Joseph's double life as an 'NIT lecturer'. Forty seven-year-old Jollly Amma Joseph had faked a job as a lecturer at National Institute of Technology in Mukkom, Kozhikode, for the last 14 years, .
After tracking Jolly's phone gallery and call records, the police are now in search of a woman who has appeared in several pictures found in Jolly's gallery and who is believed to be a 'friend' that Jolly had contacted the most.
"The woman has been identified as Rani, an employee at a tailoring shop in Mukkom, where the NIT campus is located. The tailoring shop shut down months ago and the woman is believed to be absconding. Police are searching for leads to discover her whereabouts," sources informed of the developments confirmed to TNM.
Several photos of Jolly and Rani had been found in the former's phone gallery, while being searched by the police. From her call records, it is believed that Jolly had spoken to Rani the most, among everybody else.
A picture of the duo posing inside the NIT campus during the annual Raagam cultural fest in 2019 was also released by the police. In the photo, a woman in a green salwar - who is believed to be Rani - is seen posing with Jolly, who is wearing a Red kurta and sporting her fake ID card.
Several local reports have also added that Jolly refused to divulge further details about Rani and her association with the woman.
DNA sampled of Rojo, Renju and Jolly's kids collected
Meanwhile, DNA samples of Rojo - Jolly's former brother-in-law and the man responsible for bringing out case, his sister Renju and Jolly's two kids were taken at the Kozhikode medical college hospital.
The routing procedure was done to conduct tests in order to confirm that the 6 bodies exhumed from Koodathayi were those of the family members of the Ponnamattam family who are believed to have been murdered by Jolly.
Forensic tests will be conducted to confirm that the collected DNA's samples matched with those from the exhumed bodies.
On Wednesday, the crime branch secured an extension in Jolly Joseph's custody by 2 days. The Thamarassery judicial first class magistrate court granted the extension and agreed to consider the bail petition of the accused persons on Friday. Jolly and the two other accused - MS Mathew and Praji Kumar - were produced before the court on Wednesday, to seek an extension in their custody.