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The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) has certified that there was no presence of poison or cyanide in the exhumed body samples collected from four victims in the sensational Koodathayi serial murders of six members of a family in Kerala. When the samples were tested in Kozhikode regional lab in 2020, the results were negative. Advocate BA Aloor, the defense lawyer for the prime accused in the case Jolly Joseph, claimed that the CFSL results were a blow to the prosecution. “In four cases, the results are negative. This will be a huge setback for the prosecution. Although in two other cases, they identified the presence of cyanide, it is still a question,” BA Aloor told the media.
The exhumed samples of four of the victims — Tom Thomas, Annamma Thomas, Alphine, and Mathew Manjadiyil — were sent for forensic examination in April 2022, following an order by the Kozhikode sessions court. Former investigation officer in the case and retired Superintendent of Police KG Simon told the media that the recent results were unlikely to affect the case, since the bodies were too old and it was unlikely that the poisonous substance could be identified in outdated samples.
KG Simon, who retired as Kottayam SP,said that they did not expect positive results from the central lab. “We have a lot of natural evidence in this case. Everyone knows that chemical results will not be easily available in bodies that are 10 or 15 years old. We just sent the samples, so that there will not be a question later on why we did not send them,” he said. . However, the presence of cyanide had been previously confirmed in the body samples of the two other victims, Roy Thomas and Cily, KG Simon said, according to The Hindu.
The six members of the family from Koodathayi in Kozhikode district died between the years 2002 and 2016. Forty-seven-year-old Jolly Joseph, wife of one of the deceased, Roy Thomas, is the main accused in the case. Roy Thomas, his parents and three other relatives, including a two-year-old child, were the six victims who were found dead over the course of 14 years. Among the six members who died, a post-mortem was only conducted for Roy Thomas.
A medical board was formed to scientifically review the deaths of five other people. In November 2019, the medical board’s report confirmed that all six members of the family had died due to poisoning. The report also stated that the poisoning could be due to a substance like cyanide. Jolly has been accused of killing the six members of the family with cyanide.