In a fresh twist to the Koodathayi cyanide serial murder case, it has emerged that Johnson, an aide of the prime accused Jolly Joseph, had pledged the gold jewellery of one of the victims to a cooperative bank. Johnson handed over the eight-and-a-half sovereigns of gold that belonged to Sily, first wife of Jolly's current husband Shaju, to police on Friday.
Sily's sister, brother Sijo and his wife on Friday identified the gold chain and a bangle handed over by Johnson to the cops. Their statements make the jewellery an important piece of evidence in the serial murder case that grabbed international media attention in the past few weeks.
Johnson had stated earlier that Jolly had given him the gold after convincing him that it belonged to her. Jolly had asked him to pledge the jewellery at a cooperative bank in Puthupady.
Though he had taken back the gold from the bank, he could not hand it over to Jolly as she was in police custody. Jolly also pledged Sily's other jewellery in three other banks.
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According to police, 47-year-old Jolly had poisoned six people, including her first husband Roy Thomas and her in-laws, in 17 years. Roy's parents were allegedly murdered in 2002 and 2008, and another relative Mathew Manjadiyil in 2011.
Sily's daughter Alphine too, was allegedly given cyanide by Jolly in 2015. According to cops, Jolly wanted to eliminate members of the Ponnamattom family for property.
Shaju, who is also under lens over the murders, had earlier claimed that Sily had deposited around 40 sovereigns of gold in a donation box at a church. However, the relatives had dubbed this a false claim.
