Husband gets wife killed by snake in second attempt

A 25-yearold woman who died of snakebite in Kollam district over two weeks ago was murdered by her husband who let a cobra loose in her room at night, Kerala police said on Sunday.

The preliminary investigation revealed that the husband, P Sooraj, tried killing his wife in March by using the same method, said Kollam rural police superintendent S Harishankar. S Uthra survived the first snakebite.

“After preliminary investigations, we found that it was a wellplanned crime. He told us he had been planning for over five months,” Harishankar said. He added that Sooraj, 32, wanted to usurp her gold and marry another woman. The police have arrested Sooraj, a resident of Adoor and a private bank employee, and Suresh P, a snake catcher who helped him.

The woman’s parents filed a police complaint a week after her death, alleging that Sooraj and his family members harassed Uthra for dowry. The couple had been married for two years and has a son. The police said Sooraj bought a cobra from the snake handler after paying him ~10,000. He got necessary training from the handler. On May 6, he took it to Uthra’s house in Anchal, where she was undergoing treatment after bitten by a viper. “...Sooraj and the handler were in touch with each other and both made at least 50 calls. After the first attempt failed, he was waiting for an opportunity,” Harishankar said.

The police said after Uthra fell asleep, Sooraj allegedly took out the snake from a bottle and threw it on her. He was awake all night to ensure that it did not bite him. He left the room in the morning and started reading a newspaper in the verandah. Uthra’s mother found her daughter unconscious in the morning. She was rushed to a hospital where doctors said she died of snakebite.

Uthra’s parents alleged that the woman was harassed for dowry . “I was forced to loosen my purse strings on several occasions. But we never thought he will kill my daughter like this,” said Vijaya Senan, her father.