A12 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 , 2019
claim Joseph has confessed to the
crime, prosecuting her could
prove difficult.
“This is a case which we have to
establish with circumstantial evi-
dence,” said Simon.
No autopsies were conducted
in the deaths, except in the case
of Joseph’s husband, making it
difficult to establish the cause of
deaths. Confessions made in po-
lice custody are not admissible as
evidence in court unless made
before a magistrate. Witnesses for
the deaths from years ago will also
be hard to find.
But Renji is confident. “I be-
lieve that there is the invisible
hand of God in this case,” she said.
“Otherwise, this wouldn’t have
surfaced after 18 years.”
[email protected]Shahina K.K. contributed reporting
from Kochi, Kerala.old daughter, died in 2014 during
a family function at a church after
eating a piece of bread. Her moth-
er, Cily, died two years later after
collapsing during a dental ap-
pointment. Joseph was present
on both occasions, according
to police.
Police say they began to suspect
Joseph when they discovered she
had lied about being a lecturer at
a prestigious college. Her cover
was elaborate. She had an identity
card of the college and would
drive to work each morning. Local
media reported that she was nev-
er employed by the college.
As grisly details of the kill-
ings emerge, the case has trans-
fixed the country. Crowds gather
at every court appearance to
gawk at Joseph, sexist memes
have flooded the Internet, and
a movie on the murders might be
in the works. But even as policeNext to be found dead was
Joseph’s husband of 14 years, Roy.
In 2011, he died after throwing up
his meal and losing conscious-
ness. The case was ruled a sui-
cide when cyanide was detected
in his body. Three more members
of the extended Thomas family
died over the next five years.
The case caught Simon’s atten-
tion after one of the remaining
members of the Thomas family
requested that police investigate
the deaths.
Renji Thomas, Joseph’s sister-
in-law, said she initially sympa-
thized with Joseph, who was rais-
ing two children as a widow. But
when Joseph decided to marry
Shaju, her deceased husband’s
cousin, Renji became suspicious.
Shaju’s wife and daughter
died in similarly mysterious cir-
cumstances in the years before
the wedding. Alphin, the 2-year-The Koodathayi killings are a
rare case involving an accused
female serial killer in the country.
India’s first convicted female seri-
al killer was K.D. Kempamma,
who targeted distressed women
at temples between 1999 and- She would befriend them,
poison them with cyanide and
steal their jewelry.
In the recent slayings, the
Thomas family, into which Joseph
married, thought they were
cursed as family members began
to die one by one.
The first was Joseph’s mother-
in-law, Annamma, a retired
schoolteacher. In August 2002,
she fell unconscious after a meal
of mutton soup and died soon
after. Six years later, Tom, Joseph’s
father-in-law, died after eating a
plate of tapioca. Neither of the
deaths were investigated at the
time.
IRAQ
At least 5 protesters
killed in Baghdad
Anti-government
demonstrators crossed a major
bridge in Baghdad on Monday,
approaching the prime minister’s
office and the headquarters of
state-run TV, as security forces
fired live ammunition and tear
gas, killing at least five protesters
and wounding dozens.
The protesters hurled rocks
and set tires and dumpsters
ablaze. Security forces flooded the
area to protect government
buildings, and gunfire echoed
through the streets.
For days, the protesters have
been trying to cross the Tigris
River to the heavily fortified
Green Zone, where the
government is headquartered.
Security forces have fired tear gas
and rubber bullets to push them
back from barricades on the
Joumhouriyah and Sanak
bridges, but they managed to
break through on the Ahrar
Bridge farther north.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis
have demonstrated in Baghdad
and across the mostly Shiite
south in recent weeks, calling for
the government’s overthrow and
broad political change. More than
260 people have been killed in
two waves of protests since early
October.
— Associated PressISRAELDeal struck to release
2 Jordanian detaineesIsrael and Jordan said Monday
that they have reached agreement
on the release of two Jordanians
held by Israel without charges for
more than two months.
The announcements marked abreakthrough in a case that has
further soured ties between the
neighboring countries, shortly
after the 25th anniversary of their
peace deal passed with little
fanfare last month.
Jordanian Foreign Minister
Ayman Safadi wrote on Twitter
that Heba al-Labadi and Abdul
Rahman Miri will return to
Jordan before the end of the week.
Israel arrested Labadi on
Aug. 20 and Miri on Sept. 2 as
they entered the West Bank from
Jordan through an Israeli-
controlled crossing. They are
being held in administrative
detention, an Israeli policy that
permits open-ended detentions of
people suspected of security
offenses without charges being
filed.
Labadi, 32, was hospitalized
last week because of her
deteriorating condition after
more than a month on a hunger
strike. Miri, 29, has been battlingcancer since 2010.
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said
that as part of the deal, Jordan
would return its ambassador to
Israel, a week after Amman
recalled its envoy.
— Associated PressVietnam arrests 8 more after
truck deaths in Britain: Police in
Vietnam made eight more arrests
in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese
found last month inside a
refrigerated truck container in
England. Police said the eight
were arrested on charges of
organizing human smuggling
overseas as the international
investigation into what appears
to be a human-smuggling tragedy
continues. British police have
charged a man from Northern
Ireland with 39 counts of
manslaughter and conspiracy to
traffic people. Another man was
arrested in Ireland, and two inVietnam.Congolese journalist helping
with Ebola crisis is slain:
Authorities in eastern Congo said
a journalist working to spread
awareness about the Ebola crisis
has been killed. Papy Mahamba
Mumbere, who worked at a radio
station in Ituri province, also had
been serving as a community
health worker in the village of
Lwemba. The attack also
critically injured his wife.
Authorities say two suspects have
been arrested. Health workers
have come under attack by
distrustful communities since
the Ebola outbreak began in
August 2018.Piracy in Gulf of Guinea spurs
concerns: Pirates have seized
four of 24 crew members from a
Greek-flagged ship off the coast of
Togo. The ship’s parent company
said the remaining crew and thevessel were safe. Meanwhile,
authorities in neighboring Benin
were searching for nine people
kidnapped from a Norwegian-
flagged ship two days earlier. The
incidents mark an escalation of
piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.41 men found in refrigerator
truck, Greece says: Greek
authorities said 41 men and boys
have been found in a refrigerator
truck that was stopped by police
on a highway in northeastern
Greece on suspicion of having
crossed over from Turkey.
Authorities said the refrigeration
in the truck had not been
switched on. Police arrested the
Georgian driver of the truck,
which had Bulgarian registration
plates. Hundreds of people cross
Greece’s land and sea border with
Turkey each week, many hoping
to make their way to other, more
prosperous European countries.
— From news servicesDIGESTBY NIHA MASIHnew delhi — A thick, gray pall
of smog settled over India’s capi-
tal in recent days, prompting the
government to ban millions of
private vehicles from the streets
on Monday, a day after the city
recorded its worst air quality in
three years.
Delhi is the most polluted
major metropolis in the world, a
condition that intensifies every
year starting in October as tem-
peratures cool and wind speeds
drop. The pungent-smelling air
makes eyes water and can induce
coughing and breathlessness
even for those without respirato-
ry illnesses. Last week, the city
declared a public health emer-
gency, and schools have been
shut down.
The smog is a cocktail of
vehicular emissions, industrial
pollution, construction dust and
crop burning in neighboring
states. Efforts by local and feder-
al agencies to combat the annual
scourge have done little to bring
relief to the capital: On Sunday,
Delhi recorded its worst overall
air quality since 2016, according
to figures from the Central Pollu-
tion Control Board.
The level of particulate matter
considered most harmful to hu-
man health skyrocketed to more
than 25 times the safe limit
prescribed by the World Health
Organization before receding
somewhat.
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief
minister of the state of Delhi, has
repeatedly referred to the region
as a “gas chamber.”
On days when pollution is
severe, an emergency action plan
comes into force. Trucks are
banned from entering the city,
diesel generators are prohibited
and certain types of polluting
industries are shut down. The
local government is also distrib-
uting pollution masks to mil-
lions of students and temporari-
ly limiting the number of cars on
the road: Only vehicles with
even-numbered license plates
are allowed on even-numbered
days.
Other efforts to combat the
smog include a more concentrat-
ed campaign — 62 teams of two
officers from the state and cen-
tral pollution authorities fan out
across the city, a metropolitan
area of 29 million people that is
almost the size of West Virginia,
WhatsApp group, then rushed
back to headquarters for a daily
monitoring meeting. Since the
end of September, Khan and
Kapil have levied over $85,000 in
penalties during their inspec-
tions.
But given the size and com-
plexity of Delhi’s pollution issue,
experts say that such inspection
efforts are a small piece of the
puzzle.
“The problem is so large that
these little things will have no
visible impact,” said Siddharth
Singh, the author of a recent
book on India’s pollution crisis.
Singh said that Delhi is losing
the battle against pollution be-
cause it lacks a central agency to
coordinate efforts across states
and industries. “The aspects of
the economy that impact air
pollution are fragmented across
sectors — agriculture, transport,
construction, industries,” he
said.
This week, Delhi government
blamed the neighboring states of
Punjab and Haryana for failing
to stop the annual practice of
farmers setting fire to their re-
cently harvested fields to pre-
pare them for the next crop. On
Sunday, the central government
belatedly set up a high-level task
force to monitor the situation.
Hospitals have seen a spike in
patients with respiratory prob-
lems, and doctors have called air
pollution a silent killer. One
recent study estimated that air
pollution kills more than 1 mil-
lion Indians a year, more than
tobacco use.
For Delhiites, the annual bat-
tle with pollution — which is at
its most intense from October
through February but present
year-round — has become a
dispiriting ritual. Many resi-
dents talk of leaving the city for
good.
Sonam Arora, a banker, said
she is looking for opportunities
in cities with better air to bring
her up child. “As a new mother of
a 3-month-old baby, I have not
stepped out of the house for over
10 days,” she said.
Akhilesh Kumar, a civil engi-
neer, was pessimistic as he
shopped for groceries over the
weekend. “Delhi is not a place to
live anymore,” he said.
[email protected]Joanna Slater and Tania Dutta
contributed to this report.New Delhi is losing the battle against air pollution
Regulators can do little as cars, crop burning and construction in a metro area of 29 million create a public health emergency
to seek out potential violations
of anti-pollution regulations.
Anwar Ali Khan, a senior
engineer at Delhi’s state pollu-
tion control authority, and a
partner are responsible for en-
suring that more than 50 major
construction projects are up to
code.
“We’re on the job day and
night,” said Khan, 49.
Other teams watch out for
garbage burning, plastic dump-
ing, projects that generate road
dust and illegal encroachments
on roads that can cause traffic
snarls.
For the first time this year,
inspectors like Khan are doing
patrols at night and have been
given the power to fine violators
on the spot.
On Friday afternoon, Khan
and his partner, Pankaj Kapil,
arrived at a large residential
construction project owned by
the central government in theheart of south Delhi. They had a
list of 10 measures to control
dust emissions that all construc-
tion sites must follow.
They walked around the site
through slushy mud and over
gravel, armed only with a thick
sheaf of papers and their smart-
phones to take photos of viola-
tions. Their office had not pro-
vided them with pollution
masks. Khan, who bought his
own cheap mask recently, said he
had accidentally left it behind in
his office. Kapil doesn’t have one.
Khan and Kapil find that the
construction material at the site
was not adequately covered, and
there was not sufficient barri-
cading around the periphery to
prevent the spread of dust. They
levy a fine of $7,000, despite the
protests of the site manager.
“It’s an emergency situation,”
Khan told the manager. “There is
zero tolerance this time.”
The pair filed their report to aSAJJAD HUSSAIN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGESa judge, who ordered that she
remain in police custody. Her law-
yer says he is preparing to file for
bail.
Shocked neighbors described
her as “pious,” and her sister-in-
law said Joseph was “smart and
jovial.” But in the press, she has
come to be known as the “cyanide
killer,” for the use of the fast-acting
poison that police allege was used
in the deaths. Two men accused of
supplying her with cyanide are
also under arrest.
“Initially, it [the case] was quite
unbelievable for everyone,”
said K.G. Simon, the lead police
investigator in the case.BY NIHA MASIHnew delhi — Koodathayi is an
unremarkable landlocked village
in the state of coastal Kerala in
southern India. But in October,
police there claimed to have made
an “unbelievable” discovery: A
woman had killed six relatives
over 14 years with cyanide.
Jolly Joseph, a 47-year-old
mother of two sons, was arrest-
ed in October in connection with
the murders of her first husband
and five others between 2002 and
- Police say she has confessed
to the killings.
Joseph appeared Friday before
Police: Woman killed
6 relatives with cyanide
The World
Source: Air Quality Life Index THE WASHINGTON POSTBetter WorseChange in air quality since 1998
DelhiTOP: A man walks through the thick haze of smog hanging over
New Delhi, which recently declared a public health emergency.
ABOVE: Delhi is the most polluted major metropolis in the world, a
condition that intensifies every year starting in October.