Kerala snake-bite murder: Three more arrested, hidden gold ornaments dug out

The investigations into Kerala’s snake-bite murder case have led to the arrest of victim’s in-laws.

The Kerala police team probing the snake-bite murder of Uthra S (25) in south Kerala’s Kollam district on Tuesday arrested three family members of the main accused and recovered the victim’s gold ornaments buried in two packets on the premises of their house.

The black cobra was later recovered from the victim’s room and killed. (Hindustan Times Photo/Representative)

Earlier two persons, including her husband P Sooraj and a local snake handler, were arrested for letting a cobra loose in Uthra’s room on May 6 night that led to her death a day later. The fatal second bite occurred when she was undergoing treatment for the first bite by a viper at her husband’s home two months ago. Later, police did a post-mortem on the carcass of the black cobra that had bit the deceased to collect scientific evidences.

After her death, Uthra’s parents alleged that it was a well-planned murder and her in-laws and sister (in- law) were aware of the crime. During questioning, Sooraj reportedly told the police that his parents also knew about the plot and they hid her ornaments. The police then recovered 37 sovereigns of gold on Monday which was buried in two packets. Uthra’s parents alleged that a major portion of the gold gifted as dowry was missing.

The case surfaced after Uthra’s parents filed a complaint a week after her death. They alleged that Sooraj and his family members often harassed her for dowry. The couple had got married two years ago and has a one-year-old son. Her father said that he had gifted over 100 sovereigns of gold, a new car and Rs 10 lakh cash to appease her ever- demanding in-laws.

Later, probe revealed that Sooraj had bought a cobra from a snake handler for Rs 10,000. On May 6, he reportedly took the snake to Uthra’s paternal house in Anchal, where she was undergoing treatment for the first snake bite. The police said after Uthra fell asleep, Sooraj allegedly took out the snake from the bottle and threw it on her. Later, he also said Uthra was sedated by lacing sleeping pills in her food.

He told pgolice he kept awake all night to ensure that he could escape unscathed. He left the room in the morning and started reading a newspaper in the verandah as if nothing happened. Soon, Uthra’s mother found her daughter lying unconscious in the bed. She was rushed to a hospital, where doctors said she died of a snake bite. Later, the cobra was found from Uthra’s room and killed.

Expert snake handler Vava Suresh, who has rescued more than 500 king cobras and many other snakes, said the accused might have taken training in snake handling and might have inflicted pain on the reptile to provoke it to bite. The post-mortem revealed that Uthra was bitten twice by the cobra.