Kerala court extends police remand of Jolly, two others till Oct 18

A Kerala court on Wednesday extended till Friday the police custody of Jolly Joseph and two others in connection with the suspicious deaths of six members of a family here over 14 years from 2002, allegedly after consuming cyanide-laced food.

Jolly, M S Mathew and Prajikumar were produced before the Thamarassery court here this evening by police as their six-day remand ended.

The prosecution sought extension of remand arguing that the accused will have to be taken to Coimbatore for collecting evidence as one of the accused had allegedly purchased cyanide from there.

"The remand has been extended by the court for two more days. Their bail applications have been posted to October 19," counsel for the accused said.

Probe into the suspicious deaths began after Rojo, the US-based brother of Jolly's first husband Roy Thomas, filed a complaint seeking a probe into the 6 deaths-- including that of his parents, brother and three other family members.

As investigations began, Jolly was arrested early this month along with the two others.

Six separate cases have been registered and investigation is in progress.

Meanwhile, Rojo and sister Renji and Jolly's two sons appeared before investigating officers for the second day to record their statements.

Crime branch officials also questioned Shaju, Jolly's present husband and his father Xavier for the third time regarding the death of Sili, Shaju's first wife.

Sili's relatives raised a fresh complaint on Wednesday stating that their sister died on the day she went for a wedding and about 320 gm of gold ornaments had gone missing.

Among the dead were Annamma (2002) and Tom Thomas (2008), parents of Roy. They died in 2011.

Three other relatives, including a one-year-old girl child, had also died in a suspicious manner.

Jolly married Roy's relative Shaju in 2017.