KG Simon, the Kozhikode Rural Superintendent of Police, who is heading the investigation into what has been called the Kerala serial murders, was a busy man on Saturday. He started the day by meeting a high-profile visitor at his office in Vadakara town: Loknath Behera, the state police chief, who had come to discuss the investigation strategy for the case of Jolly Joseph, the 47-year-old woman suspected of using sodium cyanide to kill her husband Roy Thomas and five other family members over a period of 14 years in a small village called Koodathayi.
After the meeting with Behera, Simon then held discussions with the inspector general of police and four IPS officers. At the end of the day, he sat down with HuffPost India for an in-depth conversation about the case.
For the latest news and more, follow HuffPost India on Twitter, Facebook, and subscribe to our newsletter.
The case, which has kept people inside and outside Kerala hooked with its sensational revelations and daily leaks, poses a stiff challenge to 59-year-old Simon, who will retire next year.
But a conversation with him indicates that the policeâs case is centred primarily around suspicion, circumstantial evidence and the confessions of Joseph and the two other accused, which may not hold up to court scrutiny. The law says that confessions made in police custody are admissible in court only if recorded before a magistrate. Even as many media reports make it seem like the case is watertight, there appear to be several missing links.
Six deaths, one suspect
Simon said it was pure luck that led him to the case. In August, an online petition to the Kerala Crime Branch filed by Rojo Thomas, raising doubts about the death of his brother Roy in 2011, landed on Simonâs desk. Rojo, who lives in the United States, attached a copy of a post-mortem report that pointed to the presence of sodium cyanide in Royâs body. Despite the report, the police had, eight years ago, ruled that Roy died of ânatural causesâ.
âThe post-mortem report mentioned cyanide,â Simon said. âIt was our responsibility to investigate how cyanide reached a home in rural Kozhikode.â
Sodium cyanide is a fast-acting poison. Ingesting even a small amount blocks oxygen flow and can cause death, with vomiting and coma as common symptoms. According to Simon, it costs Rs 1,500-2,000 a kg.
The investigation led Simon to five other deaths that roused his suspicions â Royâs mother Annamma Thomas in 2002, his father Tom Thomas in 2008, his uncle Manjadiyil Mathew in 2010, Alphine Shaju, the two-year-old daughter of Royâs cousin Shaju Skaria, in 2014, and Alphineâs mother Sily Shaju in 2016. The police say all five showed signs of sodium cyanide poisoning. They believe the suspected murders were committed by Joseph, who was married to Roy for 14 years and is now Shajuâs wife.
Joseph was arrested on October 5, a day after the police exhumed the remains of Annamma, Tom, Mathew, Alphine and Sily from the local cemetery. The forensic examination is yet to be conducted.
âSuspicious behaviourâ
Simon said the police zeroed in on Joseph after catching her lies. Joseph claimed Roy had fainted in the bathroom of their home and died of cardiac arrest. She also said he had not eaten before his death. But the post-mortem report showed traces of food in his stomach. âWe wanted to know why she lied,â said Simon.
They grew more suspicious when they ârealised she had lied about her place of employment,â Simon added.
Joseph, a commerce graduate, had told her family and neighbours she was a BTech graduate who taught at the National Institute of Technology, 20 km away from her house. âNIT officials inspected their employment records starting 2000 and reported back that no one by that name was ever employed in the institute,â Simon said. He added that Joseph also refused to take a polygraph test when first called in for questioningâthese can only be administered with the consent of the accused, and cannot be considered âconfessionsâ, but Josephâs denial added one more twist to her media trial.
There were âeyewitness statementsâ as well. âWe heard from witnesses, including relatives and neighbours, that Annamma, Tom, Mathew, Alphine and Sily had vomited, experienced respiratory congestion and fainted before they died,â Simon said. âThe symptoms were similar in Royâs death. This led us to the conclusion that the other deaths were also caused by cyanide poisoning.â
But was all this enough to convince the police that Joseph was their prime suspect? It all came down to âsuspicious behaviour,â explained Simon. âWe did not consider any other suspects because there was no reason to,â he added.
âIn all the cases, Jolly was the only person who was around during the time of death. This led us to suspect her more than anyone else.â
Simon had more examples of Josephâs âsuspicious behaviourâ.
âWhen we started investigating, Joseph approached her husbandâs family and their friends, asking them to withdraw the case. She tried to convince the parish priest [of her church] that the bodies should not be exhumed, citing religious reasons. This raised further suspicion and we had enough on her to make the arrest.â
After her arrest, Joseph admitted to all six murdersâbut later retracted her confession of having killed Alphine, Simon said. He explained the motives behind her actions: âAccording to her confession, Jolly killed Annamma to gain control of the household affairs and accounts. Tom Thomas was killed because he decided to give his property away to his other two children. Manjadiyil Mathew was killed because he suspected Royâs murder. Sily was killed because Jolly wanted to marry Shaju.â
According to the police, Josephâs call records led them to the other two accusedâMS Mathew, a jeweller and relative who procured the sodium cyanide, and Prajikumar, a goldsmith who supplied the poison. âWhen we questioned Prajikumar, he made a call to Mathew and we found the link,â said Simon.
The two men have admitted to supplying Joseph with sodium cyanide, the officer said.
Simon said the police have filed six first information reports and set up six teams to investigate each case.
Missing links, mystery
While the police seem confident of finding more evidence against Joseph, it may be easier said than done. Kerala DGP Behera admitted as much, saying that âIt will be difficult to gather scientific evidence.â
Simon, too, said that a three-day evidence collection drive last week, during which Joseph was taken to the alleged murder spots, had resulted in ânothing identifiableâ being found. âWe found two bottles that contained a powder [in Royâs ancestral home where Joseph still lived],â he said. âWe have not sent the bottles for testing, though we suspect they contain sodium cyanide.â
Two weeks since Josephâs arrest, some aspects of the case have already come into question. Reports now say that, contrary to Josephâs first confession that she killed all six people with cyanide, Annamma died of âpesticide poisoningâ, with cyanide nowhere in the picture. It is not clear whether the police initially missed this detail, or if Joseph revised other parts of her earlier confession.
The police are also yet to reveal the details of their investigation into Shaju Skaria, whom Joseph married in 2017. HuffPost India reported on October 10 that Shaju had overruled doctors to refuse a post-mortem examination of his first wife Sily in 2016. He had similarly refused an autopsy for his daughter in 2014. The police called Shaju for questioning several times, twice along with his father Skaria, the younger brother of Tom Thomas.
âSkaria and his son Shaju Skaria may not be as innocent as they claim to be,â said Simon. âJolly has confessed to revealing details of the murders to Skaria.â
When asked why Joseph would confide in her father-in-law, Simon declined to comment. Skaria told HuffPost India earlier that he had no knowledge of the crimes.
The police are also yet to find where Joseph went when she claimed she was teaching at NIT.
âWe found she would go to the nearby town, any marketplace, a beauty parlour and a church,â Simon said Joseph told the police. But the police have not yet found witnesses placing her at these spots. Suleikha Majid, the owner of the beauty parlour, said in her statement to the police that Joseph came to her parlour for cosmetic treatment but was not a frequent visitor.
Simon also had no answer to why Joseph, who was aware of the investigation since September, would leave two bottles allegedly containing sodium cyanide in her home for the police to find when they searched for evidence. âThe matter is under investigation,â he said.
Too many holes?
While the tantalizing leak of confidential details is helping to maintain the suspense essential for media hype, it does not always help the prosecutionâs case in the courts, an experienced criminal lawyer who has studied similar cases told HuffPost India.
âNone of the confessions to any police officer will be admissible in court,â said B. Raman Pillai, who practises at the Kerala High Court. âIf the confession is to a third party other than a police officer, it could be admitted in court.â
When HuffPost India asked Simon if this is why the police claim that Joseph confided in Skaria, he refused to comment.
Even if Joseph did confess to Skaria, the missing links will still hurt the prosecutionâs case, Pillai said. âCircumstantial evidence can be admissible only if they form a neat interlinking chain,â he added. âIf any of the links are missing, it will be difficult for the prosecution to establish the case.â
The recovery of items mentioned in the confession, for instance, is important. âEven if the co-accused confessed they provided the article for murder, the police should be able to make a recovery of the said item,â the lawyer explained, âAnd only that part of the confession that speaks of this recovered item will be admissible in court.â
While the gaps remain, the buzz around the case is getting louder. Last week, relatives of Tom Thomas accused Joseph of involvement in the deaths of two young men in their familiesâVincent, who died in a motorcycle accident in 2002, and Suneesh, who reportedly committed suicide in 2008. Meanwhile, Simonâs office remained busy with 15 IPS officer trainees coming in over the weekend âto study the serial murder caseâ.