Guilty: Kerala man's horrific murder of wife using cobra revealed

KERALA SNAKEBITE MURDER CASE: A Kerala court on Wednesday awarded double life imprisonments to the husband of Kerala woman Uthra who was found guilty of killing her using a cobra. He has been awarded double life sentence and a penalty of Rs 5 lakh (Dh24,349). He was also awarded 10 years and 7 years of imprisonment in two other cases. He has to serve the life sentences after the 17 years of imprisonment. 27-year-old Sooraj S Kumar - a snake handler and wildlife expert - killed his wife Uthara using a cobra in their bedroom. It was the second time that Uthara, who was differently abled, was bitten by snake as she earlier survived a viper attack as well at Sooraj’s house.

SOORAJ FOUND GUILTY: Sooraj was found guilty on Monday under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 328 and 201 after the prosecution had argued that he killed her on May 7, 2020, using a cobra after drugging her. Sooraj killed his wife Uthara by letting a cobra bite her in her sleep in May 2020.

WHAT HAPPENED AND HOW, THE STORY SO FAR: 25-year-old Uthara Sooraj was killed on the night of May 6. The next morning her mother-in-law discovered her body in their house in Anchal, some 70km from Thiruvananthapuram. The victim's mother said Uthara and Suraj had gone to their room after dinner. On May 7, Suraj, who was a late riser, woke up early and went out. When Uthara didn't wake up, her mother-in-law went to her room and found her lying unconscious. The snake, which was still in the room, was killed by Uthara's parents when they returned home from the hospital after their daughter was declared dead.

HOW POLICE CRACKED THE CASE? According to initial reports, the death happened because of snake bite but Uthara’s family had suspicions because of Sooraj's behaviour. It was the second time that Uthara suffered a snake bite in three months. The police arrested Sooraj last year on charges of murdering Uthara. Suresh, a snake-catcher who supplied the cobra and a Russel's viper, was also arrested on the same charges. Police said Sooraj had also received 98 sovereigns of gold jewellery as dowry. With no eye witness for the murder, the police collected mainly circumstantial and technical evidence. The police collected evidence from the convict’s mobile phone from which he used to search for information on cobras and vipers. Sooraj started searching for snakes online from January 2020. According to police, Sooraj bought a viper and a cobra from Suresh by paying Rs 10,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively. Later, in August 2020, both Renuka and Surya, mother and sister of Sooraj, were arrested on charges of conspiracy, domestic violence and destruction of evidence. In picture: Sooraj with accused-turned-approver Suresh.

HOW POLICE NAILED SOORAJ: The accused was nailed by using forensic medicine, analysis of animal DNA and cyber data as well as an experiment using a dummy and a cobra to ascertain how the crime was committed. Police said the convict's Youtube and search history revealed the extent of research he had carried out on snakes. It was found that Sooraj searched for the snake’s details on YouTube while his wife was undergoing treatment in hospital following the first attempt to murder her. Picture: Dummy test conducted by police.

RECREATING MURDER SCENE As part of the investigation, the police reconstructed the scene at their training centre in Kollam district last year. The police used a live snake and dummy to reconstruct the crime scene. The video, which turned out to be vital in proving the murder scientifically, was submitted to the court. The video showed a cobra, which was released on a dummy lying on a bed, did not attack the dummy. Though the snake was dropped several times on the dummy, it did not bite. Despite the police trying to provoke the reptile, it didn’t bite the dummy. It was found that cobras are not usually very active at night. When it eventually struck, its natural bite was measured. The bites ranged from 1.7-1.8 cm in width. The test showed the difference between natural and induced bite marks. Screengrab: Dummy test video conducted by police.

MOTIVE BEHIND THE MURDER: Sooraj’s motive was to get rid of Uthara permanently so that he could acquire her property and other assets. To achieve this Sooraj was constantly searching for ways to carry out an ‘accidental death.’ During the marriage, a dowry of about 98 sovereigns of gold, Rs 400,000 (approximately Dh19,465 ) and a car was given to Sooraj. Besides, Uthara’s father used to give about Rs 8,000 every month to Sooraj. Though Sooraj received a large amount of money and gold as dowry, he was not happy with Uthara. He wanted to take the money and find another partner. The couple got married in 2018 and have a son.

PLANNED MURDER? On May 6, Sooraj came to Uthara’s house with a bag in which he carried the cobra. Uthara was killed by a snake bite inflicted while she was sleeping at the home in Anchal. When her mother called her in the morning, Uthara was found to be unconscious and a large cobra was found in the bedroom. Uthara also survived a Russell's viper bite, inflicted on March 2, 2020, at her husband’s house in Adoor. She was bedridden for 52 days following the first snake bite.

RAREST OF RARE CASE: Speaking to the media, Hari Sankar, then Superintendent at Kollam (Rural) and now the Inspector General at Kerala police headquarters , who was investigating the case, said it was a well-hatched conspiracy, and the case was a challenge for the probe team as this could well be a first of its kind case. The quantum of punishment announced on Wednesday by an additional sessions court in Kollam district, which found the crime as "rarest of the rare". Reacting to the court's decision, state police chief Anil Kant said this was one of the rarest cases in which the accused has been found guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence. Hailing the police team investigating the case, he said it was one of the shining examples of how scientifically and professionally a murder case was investigated and detected. "The case was a difficult one", he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. He said the investigation team worked hard analysing forensic medicine, fibre data, DNA of the reptile and other evidences to crack the case.

UTHRA'S FAMILY DISAPPOINTED: When the verdict was announced Uthra's father Vijayasenan and brother Vishu were present in the court. However, Uthra's mother Manimegalai said she was dissatisfied with the judgement and indicated that the family will take further steps, including giving appeal in higher courts.

SNAKE BITE MURDERS: ‘Snake bite murders’ have also caught the attention of the Indian Supreme Court. Hearing a bail plea in a similar case from Rajasthan last week, Justice Surya Kant said, "This is a new trend that people bring poisonous snakes from snake charmers and kill a person through snake bite. This is now becoming common in India." The incident had made headlines in 2019 when a woman was killed by her daughter-in-law by getting her bitten by a snake in a village in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan. It has been alleged that the daughter-in-law, Alpana, had an extramarital affair with Manish, a resident of Jaipur. When the mother-in-law started becoming a hindrance in the love story, Alpana and her lover Manish planned to kill Subodh Devi in such a manner that they would not get traced. On June 2, 2019, Subodh Devi was bitten by a snake. All the three accused were arrested on January 4, 2020, and have been in jail since then.