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Odisha man arrested for killing wife, 2-year-old daughter with cobra
The accused, who slept in a different room from the one in which his wife and daughter were sleeping, released a monocled cobra and closed the doors
A man in Odisha’s Ganjam district got his wife and 2-year-old daughter stung by a venomous cobra over domestic strife last month resulting in their death, police said on Thursday.
K Ganesh Patra, 25, was arrested by police on charges of getting his wife Basanti Patra and 2-year-old daughter Debasmita bitten by a venomous cobra on the intervening night of October 6 and 7. The accused, who slept in a different room from the one in which his wife and daughter were sleeping, released a monocled cobra and closed the doors.
“At about 5.45am, he started screaming that his wife and daughter have died due to snakebite. Though post mortem of the woman and daughter confirmed their death due to snakebite, her father thought there was something amiss in the whole incident and requested the police to investigate further. Following the incident, the investigating officer scanned the call details of the accused and found that he had multiple conversations with snake charmers before the incident. On September 26, Patra got a SIM card in the name of his father and from that SIM card, he called several snake charmers to get one poisonous snake. He claimed that he needed the snake for the purpose of worship at Lord Shiva temple,” said Kabisuryanagar police station inspector in charge Pravat Sahu.
On October 6, a snake charmer named Basanta Acharya got a monocled cobra, which he had rescued from a residential house, for Patra. He handed over that snake to the accused in a plastic jar.
Police said the accused wanted to take revenge against his wife as she had lodged a case of dowry torture against him a year ago. “After their marriage in 2020, both stayed happily and had a daughter. But soon, marital discord between the couple started and a case was lodged against the accused in October 2022 under section 498A (which deals with husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty) of IPC,” said police officials.
