Kerala: Court Convicts Man Of Murdering Wife By Getting A Cobra To Bite Her

The prosecution has appealed for death sentence for Sooraj, and the court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on October 13

Uthra and Sooraj | Credit: Twitter

Chennai: An Additional Sessions Court in Kollam found a man guilty of killing his wife, by getting s cobra snake to bite her. The man, Sooraj, had invested in a viper and a cobra to kill his wife Uthra, and made three attempts within four months in 2020.

In the final attempt, the cobra bit Uthra that led to her death on May 7, 2020, the investigators found. 

According to reports, the prosecution has appealed for death sentence for Sooraj, and the court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on October 13.

Sooraj was arrested on May 24, 2020. The snake handler turned approver in the case and gave a statement against Sooraj. With all the proof and DNA evidence, the investigating team submitted a 1,000-page charge sheet in the case in August 2020. 

The chilling murder took place in Kollam on May 7, 2020 and the 25-year-old Uthra was found dead with froth coming out of her mouth, at her parent's home in Anchal of Kollam district. The family had earlier filed a complaint and accused her in-laws of having a history of harassing Uthraa for dowry and domestic abuse. After her death, the police registered a case of suspicious death and started suspecting Uthra’s husband, who was present in the home at the time of her death.  

The family also alleged that Uthra escaped a snake bite in March 2020.

Based on the preliminary investigation, the police arrested Sooraj on May 24. Later, they also started investigating snake handler Suresh who had given the snake to Sooraj. During questioning, Suresh turned approver and confessed to giving a snake to Sooraj twice.

Further investigations also revealed that Sooraj had made three attempts since February that year to kill Uthra. 

On February 29, 2020, Sooraj made the first attempt by releasing a viper from a sack in their bedroom. However, Uthra saw the snake and raised an alerm. Following this, Sooraj had claimed that he threw the snake away. But had actually saved it in his shed, according to the police. Using the same snake, he onc again tried to kill her, but Uthra was able to escape this time also. 

However, in his third attempt, Sooraj tried to kill her with a poisonous cobra at her mother's home. When Uthra was at her mother’s house, he visited her and released the snake. The cobra reportedly bit her on hthe leg below the knee, which resulted in her death. 

The Kollam rural police also found the role of Sooraj's mother, father, and sister in the murder as they reportedly tried to destroy the evidence. Hence, the Kollam police arrested all three in August 2020. 

Sooraj and Uthra got married in March 2018 and have a three-year-old baby.