Thiruvananthapuram: Kozhikode rural police on Friday have exhumed 5 bodies and conducted postmortem as part of an investigation where six members in a family have died in similar circumstances over a period of 14 years.
An investigation was launched after a complaint was filed a year ago by Rojo, son of deceased couple. Police have noticed a similarity in pattern of the deaths.
In 2002, Rojo’s mother Annamma (57) had died under mysterious circumstances. Six years later, Rojo’s father, Tom Thomas (66) too died under similar circumstances. According to the police, the two had collapsed shortly after having food.
A series of death followed after the death of the couple. In 2011, Rojo’s brother Roy Thomas (40) died followed by Rojo’s uncle, Matthew (68) in 2014.
In the same year, two-year-old Alphine died, followed by the death of his mother in 2016.
According to Kozhikode Rural SP, KG Simon, it is found that all of the family members had consumed food before they died.
Roy's wife Joli has been arrested for his murder, while the probe in other five cases is still underway. The police have said the motive of the murders is not just property, even though the earlier probe had pointed at property dispute as Joli had managed to to inherit her husband and his parents' assets.
Last Friday, police exhumed five dead bodies which were buried at different churches in Calicut. Roy's body was not exhumed as the postmortem was conducted immediately after his death.
Kozhikode Rural SP had said that Joli, who had remarried Roy's cousin, had been called for questioning and to verify her statement about where she was at the time of the deaths.
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