JOLLYAMMA JOSEPH @ JOLLY Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, the 1st accused in Crime 189 of 2011 of Kodenchery Police Station registered for the offences punishable under Sections 110, 120B, 465, 467, 468, 471, 474, 302, 201, read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 2 read with Section 6(2) of The Poisons Act, 1919, is before this Court with this application for regular bail.

(2.) The prosecution case in a brief outline is that this petitioner was married to Roy Thomas (now deceased) on 14.07.1997 and they resided together as husband and wife at his residence namely Ponnamattam House, Koodathayi, Thamarassery. Two children were born to them in the wedlock. On 30.09.2011 Roy Thomas was found lying in the toilet of the said house in an unconscious stage and from there he was immediately rushed to a hospital, where he was declared dead. FIR was registered under Section 174 of Cr.P.C. at 21.00 hours on 30.09.2011 on the complainant of one Joseph a close relative of the deceased. Postmortem examination was conducted and it was revealed that he died due to Cyanide poisoning. The case was closed as a case of suicide. Later a complaint was lodged by Rojo Thomas, the brother of deceased, before the District Police Chief, Kozhikode on 20.06.2019.In the complaint, Rojo Thomas raised suspicion about the untimely and mysterious death of six persons in his family including his brother Roy Thomas, the deceased, his mother Annamma Thomas, father Tom Thomas, uncle Manchadiyil Mathew, close relative Sili Shaju and her 1 1/2 year old child Alfine Shaju. He raised suspicion about the mysterious circumstances in which the deaths occurred and suspected all the deaths as murders. On the basis of the complaint lodged, the District Police Chief Kozhikode had conducted primary enquiry and filed report before the Deputy Inspector General of Police Kannur Range, Kannur and re-opened the case. Thereafter, a Special Investigating Team investigated the case from 19.08.2019 which includes exhumation of the dead body and chemical examination of the remnants.

(3.) On investigation, it was revealed by the investigating agency that the death of Roy Thomas was due to cyanide poisoning by this petitioner who collected the same from the 2nd accused with whom she had illegal relationship. The 2nd accused had collected it from the 3rd accused engaged in jewellery works with whom he had close acquaintance and the 1st accused, the petitioner, had administered cyanide by mixing it with food and served to Roy Thomas, her husband with the intention to kill him and thus killed him by poisoning with definite motive. The relationship of the petitioner and the deceased was strained. She had illicit relations and was desirous of grabbing his family property. She also entertained a desire to marry a financially sound person with permanent job and income. Therefore, she carried out the gruesome act of killing him, is the prosecution case.