Kerala man, who poisoned wife to death using snake, jailed for 45 years, including double life term

The prosecution had mentioned only Sooraj as the accused in the case and had produced 87 witnesses, 288 documents, and 40 evidence materials to prove their case. Police had submitted a 1000 page charge sheet against the accused in the court.

Kollam: The Kollam District Additional Sessions Court today sentenced Sooraj, the accused in the sensational Uthra murder case to double life imprisonment. The court also imposed a fine of Rs5lakhs and 17 years extra imprisonment - 7 years for destroying evidence and 10 years for using a poisonous object to harm others - to the accused. He will have to undergo additional imprisonment if he fails to pay the fine.

Sooraj was arrested for using a Cobra to kill his wife for her property.

Terming it as one the rarest among rare cases, Kollam Principal Sessions Court Judge M. Manoj upheld the charges raised by the prosecution against the accused and said the death penalty is not being awarded considering the age of the convict. The court has convicted Sooraj on Monday.

Kerala State Police had done a precise investigation and had studied similar cases reported in Nagpur and Indore and covered all loopholes to ensure a conviction for the accused. They even did a dummy test using a live cobra to prove their case. The prosecution during the trial had termed the case as rarest among rare and demanded the death penalty for the accused.

The defence counsel had argued that Sooraj was wrongly framed in the case and Uthra's death was of a natural snake bite.

The prosecution had mentioned only Sooraj as the accused in the case and had produced 87 witnesses, 288 documents, and 40 evidence materials to prove their case.

Police had submitted a 1, 000 page charge sheet against the accused in the court. Sooraj was charged with sections 302 IPC (murder), 326 (using harmful materials to hurt someone), 307 (attempt to murder), and 201 (destroying evidence).

Uthra was found dead, after being bitten by a snake on May 7, 2020. Sooraj tried to portray it as a natural snake bite death. Police started an investigation into the case after Uthra's parents approached them alleging the mystery behind the death of their daughter. Police later found out that Sooraj had used a cobra to kill Uthra. He had unsuccessfully attempted to kill her using a viper in March 2020.

Police had found out that Sooraj had aimed to grab the property of Uthra by eliminating her. There were no eyewitnesses in the case and police had turned the second accused as an approver. Police had found out that Sooraj extensively watched snake-handling videos from Youtube before attempting to kill Uthra.