Kerala court convicts man who killed his wife by letting loose snake and forcing it to bite her

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A court in Kerala’s Kollam on Monday convicted a man of murdering his wife by letting loose a cobra on her when she was sleeping, and forcing it to bite her, saying the convict did not deserve any sympathy for this heinous crime. It relied on the findings of a test with a snake that showed the difference between natural and induced bite marks.

The prosecution sought capital punishment for P Sooraj, 32, a resident of Kollam; the additional sessions court is due to pronounce the quantum of punishment on Wednesday.

Uthra, his 25-year-old wife, suffered a fatal bite at her home while she was undergoing treatment for another snake bite she suffered. It emerged during the investigation that the incident, involving a viper, was also orchestrated by the husband. She managed to recover from the first bite, but could not survive the second.

Her parents lauded the verdict. “We pray no other parents should undergo our experience,” said Uthra’s father, Rajasenan.

The case surfaced in May last year after Uthra’s parents filed a police complaint two days after her death alleging Sooraj and his family members harassed their daughter for dowry.

There was no eyewitness or direct circumstantial evidence in the case. The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which probed the case, relied on scientific and technical evidence to nail the culprit. It conducted the test with a snake to show the difference between natural and induced bite marks.

“In natural (accidental) bite, marks will spread to 1.7 to 1.8 cm but in Uthra’s case, it was 2.3 to 2.8 cm. That surely showed pressure was induced on the cobra,” said S Harishankar, who led the SIT.

He said that during autopsy of the dead snake, it was also found that it was starved for a week to make it more aggressive.