Man in Kerala convicted for killing wife by unleashing Cobra on her bed

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A 28-year-old man in Kerala has been convicted of murdering his wife by unleashing a deadly Cobra snake on her bed while she was sleeping in what the court has termed as the “rarest of rare” cases.</p>
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The additional sessions court in Kollam district of the state will pronounce the quantum of punishment in the case on Wednesday. The prosecution has sought capital punishment.</p>
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This was the culprit Sooraj's second attempt to murder his wife, after having failed in his first with a venomous viper earlier in February 2020. His wife Uthara was hospitalised for a month after she was bitten by the viper but succumbed to the cobra's lethal bite in May 2020.</p>
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During the investigation the police found that both snakes were procured from a local snake handler Suresh, who later turned an approver. He also admitted to training Sooraj to handle the snake.</p>
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The SIT reconstructed the murder scene by capturing on video the behaviour of a real Cobra released on a bed where a dummy was used as the victim. The video was submitted in the court as evidence and played a crucial role in the case, said prosecutor G Mohanraj. “It was a macabre crime quite unheard of. It was a well-planned and thought-out crime, and all evidence was strong that is why we sought capital punishment.”</p>
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Investigations revealed that Sooraj wanted to get rid of Uthara, take her money and gold and marry someone else, the police had said.</p>
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Kerala DGP Anil Kant praised the court’s decision. He said this was one of the rarest cases in which the accused had been found guilty based on circumstantial evidence.</p>
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"It's one of the shining examples of how scientifically and professionally a murder case was investigated and detected," he told the media.</p>
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He congratulated the investigation team for its strenuous efforts in analysing forensic evidence, fibre data, DNA of the animal and other evidence to crack the case.</p>
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The Supreme Court had also observed in the course of a hearing last week that a new trend of people bringing poisonous snakes from snake charmers and killing a person through snake bite is becoming common in Rajasthan.</p>
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It appears that this is happening in other states as well.</p>