Jolly Joseph is an Indian criminal suspect who is allegedly the main accused in the murder of six family members in Koodathayi, Kozhikode district, Kerala, over a period of about 14 years.
Wiki/Biography
Jolly Joseph aka Joliyamma was born in 1972 in Vazhavara, Idukki, Kerala (51 years old; as of 2023). She attended St. Mary’s High School in Wazavala. She graduated from MES College, Nedumkandam, Kerala, from 1998 to 1991. She reportedly told her in-laws that she studied BTech and was a visiting professor at the National Institute of Technology (NIT). However, her neighbors said she told them she had MCom.
jolly joseph in her college
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 5″
Hair color: black
Eye color: dark brown
family
She came from a middle-class Roman Catholic family.
Parents and siblings
Her father K Joseph was a farmer and owned a ration shop. Her mother suffered from mental illness. She has two brothers, two sisters and a brother named Nobby Thomas. One of her sisters is deaf and mute.
Jolly Joseph’s father
husband and children
In 1997, Jolly had a love marriage with Roy Thomas. Jolly and Roy Thomas had two sons, Romo Thomas and Ronald Thomas.
Jolly Joseph and Roy Thomas and their children
Photo of Jolly Joseph’s son Romo
In 2016, after her husband’s death, she married Roy Thomas’ cousin Shaju Zacharia, a school teacher.
Jolly Joseph and her second husband Shaju
address
Ponnamattam Veedu, Koodathai Bazar, Koodathai Village, Thamarassery, Kozhikode, Kerala
Kudatai Cyanide Murders
death of family member
After marrying Roy, she moved to Roy Thomas’ ancestral house in Kudartai, where her father-in-law Tom Thomas, mother-in-law Anamma Thomas and some other members had lived.
jolly joseph house
In 2002, her mother-in-law passed away due to health problems. In 2008, her father-in-law also died of a heart attack and was foaming at the mouth when he died. Within three years, her husband Roy died. Only his father was seen foaming at the mouth minutes before his death. After Roy’s death, his uncle Mathew Manjadiyil suspected something was wrong and insisted on an autopsy. An autopsy report revealed that Roy had consumed cyanide, a chemical commonly used in mining and jewelry making. The local police determined it to be a suicide and did not investigate the case. After Roy’s death, Jolly began to distance herself from her relatives and neighbors. However, her neighbors thought she was at a low point in her life, so they didn’t do much. The string of deaths in her family continued, with her husband Roy’s uncle Mathew Manjadiyil dying of a heart attack in 2014, and the same year Roy Thomas’ cousin Shah died. Shaju Sakhariyas’ two-year-old daughter Alphine also died. In 2016, Shaju Sakhariyas’ wife Sili Sakhariyas also passed away.
Jolly Joseph family members
After a series of deaths in the same house, Jolly’s relatives and neighbors begin to believe that the house is cursed or possessed by some negative energy. The case took a different turn in 2017 when Jolly married Shaju Sakhariya, husband Roy’s cousin.
Investigations and Arrests
After the death of Jolly’s first husband, Roy, the property passed to Jolly, rather than Roy’s biological brother, Rojo Thomas. Rojo then began gathering information about Jolly’s past. Initially, Rojo found out that Jolly had lied about her job at NIT. Rojo even requested a copy of Roy Thomas’ autopsy report. He discovered that Jolly had said she made an omelette for Roy, but according to the autopsy report, Roy had rice and chickpea curry for dinner before his death. Later, Rojo and her sister lodged a complaint with the district police station, which was forwarded to Tamarasery police station near Kozhikode. However, their complaint was dismissed as the case was registered as a suicide case. Rojo was later transferred to the crime branch of Kozhikode police, which agreed to investigate the matter. Initially, the police confirmed that she did not work at the NIT and found around 50 discrepancies between her statement to the police and the evidence. Since no post-mortem examination was conducted on the deceased family members except Roy, the local crime branch of the Kozhikode police decided to remove the buried bodies of the Jolly family for further investigation. After about two months of investigation, Kozhikode district police chief KG Simon held a press conference and said that Joseph was arrested after she confessed to murdering all six family members with cyanide.
Jolly Joseph arrested
Local police said she murdered Roy for his property and other assets. According to the local crime branch of Kozhikode police, in October 2019, Jolly admitted that she killed six family members using cyanide with the help of MS Mathew (a jewelery shop employee) and Praji Kumar (a goldsmith). According to police, Jolly’s relative Ms Mathew, a jewelery shop employee, supplied Jolly with cyanide belonging to goldsmith Praji Kumar. According to reports, Mathew said he gave Prachi 5,000 rupees and two bottles of alcohol in exchange for cyanide. Matthew, defending, said Jolly asked him to supply her with cyanide to kill rats in her home.
modus operandi
According to the local crime branch of the Kozhikode police, Jolly poisoned her in-laws and took control of the family finances by adding cyanide to food. After her parents-in-law died, her relationship with her husband Roy deteriorated and she poisoned him with cyanide. She then killed her husband’s uncle, Manjadiyil, by mixing cyanide with alcohol. as he scrutinizes the murder. In order to marry Shaju, she mixed cyanide in her food and killed Shaju’s wife and daughter. However, no strong evidence was found against her. Her second husband Shaju was also suspected, but no evidence was found against him.
as a result of
In 2023, Jolly’s defense lawyer BA Aloor petitioned the Kerala High Court for her release as she was incarcerated without any conclusive evidence. However, the court rejected this plea and said the material on record was sufficient to prima facie prove her possible involvement in the murder.
in popular culture
In 2019, episodes 100, 101 and 102 of the popular Hindi TV series Crime Patrol Sartak aired on Sony TV, telling the story of Jolly’s cyanide murder.
“Crime Patrol” episode stills
In the same year, a Malayalam television series “Koodathayi” based on the Jolly case was aired on Flowers TV.
kudatai
On September 7, 2020, the English-language podcast “Death, Lies & Cyanide” was launched on Spotify, narrated by Indian journalist Sashi Kumar. This podcast has ten episodes.
Death, lies and cyanide
On December 22, 2023, the Netflix documentary series “Curry and Cyanide: The Case of Happy Joseph” was released on Netflix. The documentary is available in six languages.
Curry and Cyanide – The Case of Jolly Joseph
Facts/Trivia
- Her neighbors once said that Jolly was a talkative and polite child.
- She used to go to the nearby church and attend Sunday prayers.
- According to Kozhikode police, she admitted that she hated girls and had two abortions during her pregnancy.
- One of her neighbors revealed in an interview that Jolly had a habit of stealing. She once stole money from her family, and later, when she was in college, she stole a gold bracelet from a classmate. When Qiaoli’s father found out about this, he beat her so hard that her arm was broken.
- In 2020, Jolly allegedly attempted suicide in the prison where she was incarcerated. She was then immediately admitted to Kozhikode Medical College.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education