With five more suspicious death cases, the reconstituted District Crime Branch team investigating the Koodathayi serial murder case has a job at hand. No fresh case has been registered on the basis of the statements of the kin of the suspected victims.
Among the five deaths, two were in the Ponnamattom family itself. The victims, Suneesh, 28, and Vincent, 24, were the children of the brothers of Tom Thomas(Koodathayi victim).
Vincent, son of Augustine, was found dead hanging in his house at Pulikkayam in 2002. Suneesh, son of Dominic, was killed in a suspicious bike accident at Kodenchery in 2008. He had a deadly wound on the head, which was not reportedly caused by the accident.
Financial deals
Family members said they both had some financial deals with Jolly Shaju. One of the victims had even left some clues in his personal diary, they claimed.
The other three incidents had many similarities with the deaths of the six Koodathayi victims. The first was the death of Bichunni, a plumber in the neighbourhood of Jolly. He reportedly died after having some food suspected to be laced with poison. He was one among those who sought a probe into the death of Roy, first husband of Jolly.
The second was the death of a local party leader M. Ramakrishnan of Kunnamangalam, who allegedly had business deals with Jolly.
Statement recorded
His family claimed that Ramakrishnan died soon after having lunch. It was then considered a heart attack. The police have recorded the statement of his family.
The death of a lecturer at the NIT-C too is under the lens of the special squad. The incident came to light when the squad probed Jolly’s suspected attempts to secure cyanide from the lab. Sources said the lecturer too had reportedly showed symptoms of poisoning.
Crime Branch sources said the murder attempts allegedly made by her on five other girls too were under investigation.
