Kollam: The Kollam District Additional Sessions Court today convicted Sooraj, the accused in the sensational Uthra murder case. The sentence to the convict would be pronounced on October 13. The Sessions Judge M Manoj said all the charges of the prosecution against Sooraj have been proved beyond doubt and the main accusation that Sooraj made a poisonous snake bite his wife Uthra has been amply proved.
The prosecution during the trial had termed this as a rarest case and demanded death penalty for the accused. The prosecution read out the charges to the accused. Sooraj told the court that he has nothing to say on the charges framed against him. The defence counsel had argued that Sooraj was wrongly framed in the case and Uthra's death was due to 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 also had done a dummy exercise using a real snake to recreate the modus operandi of the accused. Police had submitted a 1000 page charge sheet in the court.
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Sooraj was charged under 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 some mystery behind the death of their daughter.
Police later found out that Sooraj 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 wanted to usurp the properties 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.
