By: Klinsa Kurien, Bureau Chief-ICN Kerala
The most recent murder mystery in Kerala caused a big hullabaloo in the entire state. Famously known as the “Koodathayi murder mystery”, this involved a woman named Jolly Joseph. She was a nice personality to reckon with and interact, according to reports. Also, traditional in value system as well as a regular church goer, she was completely adhering to good mannerism at all times. Then what led her to commit this gruesome murder of all in the family?
Jolly comes from a small village in Idukki district of Kerala and is suspected to have killed three family members after administering cyanide in their soups. This happened after a careful planning and implementation between the years 2002 and 2016. Contrary to the heinous crime that she committed, she was still being referred to as a ‘good woman’ by the neighbours.
Disputes over property matters are not uncommon in Kerala. This woman Jolly had tried to wipe out all the members of her family in order to acquire their property. Coming from a good background, it must have been her childhood trauma or her unfulfilled wish and desire for a life full of comfort that made her take this extreme step. She wanted to get more and more wealthy. As the saying goes, “the more, the merrier”. But she did not realize that one cannot fulfill one’s desires by treading on the wrong path because desires themselves are the root cause of all suffering in mankind, according to Gautama Buddha. Though Jolly Joseph is alive today, her life would be full of guilt pangs for all the murders that she committed within her own family.
In psychological terms this type of murder is referred to as “Serial Murder”. A serial murder defines itself as a murder committed on three or more people. It also has a designated time period of a month or year. The main purpose of this serial killer is to have a financial gain or a sexual one. All the murders happen in a similar fashion and the method used is not different from the other in any way.
These murderers have an abnormal sense of gratification. Their longing for desire and wealth would land them up in this dangerous situation. At the same time, they would also be battling a mental illness or psychopathy. Another interesting angle is that these psychopaths could have had a previous history of a traumatic incident within their house-hold, they were abused either physically or sexually.
Bu in the case of Jolly there were no such problems. Jolly had been a very soft spoken and a good natured child. But after her marriage lots of problems came in her way. She killed her father-in-law in order to grab the property. She wasn’t happy with the division that said that her husband would not receive any property as he was entrusted with the money that was received after selling off the paddy fields. This made Jolly forge his own will and gradually eliminate him. She was unhappy at her husband’s lack of money to provide for the family which led her to take this drastic step.
