The husband of Jolly Thomas, the prime accused in the sensational Koodathayi cyanide serial murders that rocked Kerala in 2019, has filed a divorce petition at a family court in Kozhikode. Shaju Zachariah, the second husband of Jolly, said he seeks divorce on the ground that he feels scared to continue his relationshipas his wife has a very deadly mindset.
Jolly, who married Shaju Zachariah in 2017, was arrested on 5 October 2019 for allegedly murdering six members of her family over a span of 14 years by giving them cyanide-laced food.
The case had come into spotlight after six members of an extended family in Kerala's Koodathayi were found dead over a period of 2002-2016. It was later found they were murders over a gory family dispute. Jolly Thomas, wife of Roy Thomas who died in 2011, allegedly admitted to the murders of retired educational department officer P. Tom Thomas (66) his wife Annamma (57) son Roy Thomas (40) wife of Tom Thomas's brother's son Shaju Skaria, Sily Shaju (44) her two-year-old daughter Alphine, and Annamma's brother Mathew Manjadiyil (68).
Police have registered separate cases in each of the deaths that occured in the Ponnamattam family and charge sheets have been submitted in all the cases. Two of her accomplices, who were arrested along with her, are currently lodged in jail.
