Kerala HC stays TV series on 'cyanide killer' Jolly

The Kerala high court on Wednesday issued a stay on telecasting the serial allegedly based on Koodathayi serial murders. An official of the Flowers TV channel confirmed to media that it will not air the series, starting today, as the court has stayed it, but added that they would go appeal for vacating the stay.

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed the airing of ongoing TV series on serial murders that took place at Koodathai in Kozhikode district between 2002 and 2016.

It was on January 13 that Flowers TV channel started airing the series titled Koodathai, which incidentally is the place in Kozhikode district where the crime which was masterminded by 47-year-old Jolly Thomas, who used cyanide to eliminate six people, took place.

The deceased were: Tom Thomas, his wife Annamma, son Roy Thomas, relative Sily, her daughter Alphine and Annamma's brother Mathew.

Just before the series was to appear on Flowers TV, the Kerala High Court refused to stay the series. But on Wednesday the court granted stay on airing the serial after a witness in the case, Mohammed, wanted such a step as the case is being probed and that airing of the series could affect the probe.

An official of the Flowers TV channel confirmed to media that it will not air the series, starting today, as the court has stayed it, but added that they would go appeal for vacating the stay.

The mysterious deaths took place in the family of retired government official Tom Thomas, while all six dead bodies were exhumed in October for investigation.

The first in the family to die in 2002 was Tom Thomas' wife and Jolly's mother-in-law Annamma, a retired teacher. She was followed by Jolly's father-in-law, in 2008. In 2011, their son and Jolly's husband, Roy Thomas, also died to be followed by the death of Roy's maternal uncle, Mathew, in 2014. The last one in the extended family to die was Sily in 2016.

The police began the probe into these deaths after Roy Thomas' brother, Rojo, now settled in the US, approached the Superintendent of Police and voiced his suspicions about the series of mysterious deaths.

On October 5, the police arrested Jolly and her two accomplices who are currently in jail, as the police have registered separate cases in each of the deaths and the probe is on.