Team News Riveting
Kochi, October 13
A Kerala Court on Wednesday sentenced Sooraj to life imprisonment for the murder of his disabled wife Uthra by using snakes in Kollam district.
The Court also imposed fine of Rs 5 lakh on the husband who committed first-of-its-crime in Kerala.
Uthra (25), living with a few disabilities, was found dead at her house in Anchal of Kollam district on May 7, 2020. Initially it was learnt that she had died of a snake bite.
The local residents and neighbours talked about the ‘sarppa kopam’ (wrath of the snake) against Uthra as she was injured in a similar incident at her husband’s house in Adoor. In March 2020, she was bitten by a viper and in May 2020, she was bitten by a cobra.
However, her parents suspected foul play in their daughter’s death, and filed a complaint with the police. The investigation led to the exposure of a meticulously planned macabre murder.
According to police case diary, Uthra’s husband Sooraj had been plotting the crime for some time and that he had ‘hired’ snakes twice from Suresh, a handler from Kalluvathukkal of Kollam. First in March 2020, he hired a viper snake and ensured that Uthra was bitten by the snake. Uthra was in a bed-ridden situation for 52 days and had to undergo a plastic surgery after getting bitten by the viper.
The Additional Sessions Court, Kollampronounced the sentence in this unique case where the husband committed murder by throwing a starving cobra on to his sleeping wife to induce death by snakebite.
At the hearing, the prosecution had pressed for the death penalty.
