Kerala HC convicts husband who murdered wife by snakebite

By Legal Wires 3 Minutes Read

The Kerala High Court sentenced Sooraj S Kumar to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs5 lakhs for the murder of his 25-year-old disabled wife, Uthra.

State of Kerala v. Sooraj S Kumar

The Additional District and Sessions Court, Kollam, presided by Justice Manoj M pronounced the sentence in this case where the husband committed murder by throwing a starving cobra onto his sleeping wife to induce death by snakebite.

The court sentenced Sooraj to double life imprisonment for murder and attempted murder, 10 years imprisonment for causing hurt by poison and 7 years for causing disappearance of evidence.

The court found Sooraj guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to commit murder), 328 (causing hurt by poison) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

In this case, Uthra, a 25-year-old wife of Sooraj S Kumar was found dead at her home from a snakebite on 7th May 2020.

In March 2020, Sooraj had first attempted to murder his wife by setting a venomous starving viper on a sleeping Uthra but she had survived that attack. However, he became successful on his second attempt in May 2020 in which his wife succumbed to death by the snakebite.

Sooraj and his family tried to portray the incident as a natural snakebite but Uthra’s family filed a police complaint alleging foul play and dowry harassment.

Later, the snake handler was arrested. He admitted that he had supplied snakes to Sooraj for Rs 10,000. Also during interrogation, Sooraj confessed to the crime stating that his motive was financial gain.

Sooraj’s family were also booked for various offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code for domestic violence and conspiracy among others after it was found that Sooraj had buried Uthra’s gold around the family compound after her death.