Kerala snakebite murder: Man’s parents arrested

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala police have arrested the parents and sister of a man who is accused of killing his wife last month by making a cobra bite her when she was asleep in what investigators described as a well-planned and executed murder plot.

Deputy police superintendent A Ashokan said the three will be booked for domestic violence, dowry harassment, abetment to the murder and for destroying evidence. The woman’s gold was found buried on the premises of their house, the police added.

Police began probing the case after the parents of the 25--yearold woman, Uthra, alleged that she was murdered and her in-laws were aware of the conspiracy to kill her. P Sooraj, the husband, and a man from whom he had allegedly bought the cobra, were already under arrest and has reportedly confessed that his parents also knew about the plot and they hid her gold.

Uthra’s parents filed a police complaint a week after her death on May 7 and also alleged Sooraj and his family often harassed her for dowry. Uthra’s father said he had gifted over 100 sovereigns of gold, a car, and ~10 lakh cash to meet their dowry demands after the couple got married two years ago. Uthra’s parents also alleged that a major portion of the gold was missing.

The police probe have revealed that Sooraj bought the cobra for ~10,000 and on May 6 allegedly took it to Uthra’s parents’ house, where she was undergoing treatment for the first snake bite she had earlier suffered. They said after Uthra fell asleep, Sooraj allegedly took the cobra out of a bottle and threw it on her.