Can't Wait To Kill His Wife With A Cobra And A Viper, Indian Man Sentenced To Double Life Sentence

Indian cobra illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Pavan Kumar N)

JAKARTA - An Indian man has been sentenced to double life in prison for killing his wife with a cobra and a viper in what prosecutors say is the rarest of cases.

It is Sooraj Kumar (28), an Indian man is said to have twice attacked his wife with venomous snakes. The first attack with a Russell viper left his wife Uthra in hospital for two months, prosecutors in the southern state of Kerala said.

Instead of being grateful that his wife survived despite being bitten by Russell's viper which is known to be deadly, it was Kumar who knew his wife survived and was released from the hospital and underwent an election at his parents' house. He even attacked his wife again.

This time, his 25-year-old wife died from a cobra bite from a snake charmer. The venom from the snake killed Uthra in May 2020.

Kumar was arrested from his home last year, after Uthra's parents raised suspicions, alleging that their daughter was abused for more dowry. The woman's parents said Kumar tried to expropriate her property after her death.

Monday this week, a court in Kerala's Kollam District found Kumar guilty of murder and poisoning his wife, and made an earlier attempt to kill her using Russell's venom.

Judge M Manoj sentenced the convict on Wednesday to two consecutive life sentences, but did not accept prosecutors' demands for the death penalty, given his age and opportunity to change, local media reported.

Kumar pleaded not guilty, but police said his phone records showed he was in contact with a snake charmer and had watched snake videos on the internet prior to the murder.

It is known, Kumar stayed in the room with Uthra after the cobra bit him. He also went about his morning routine the next day, when told by the woman's mother, prosecutors said.

"The manner of execution and the defendant's nefarious plot to kill Uthra, his bedridden wife, make this case fall into the rarest category," said the public prosecutor seeking the death penalty.

Separately, snake charmer Vava Suresh said it was possible that Kumar had 'inflicted pain on the reptile to provoke it to bite', the Hindustan Times newspaper quoted him as saying.

Uthra comes from a rich family, while her husband only works in a bank, and is not well off. Their marriage involved a large dowry, including a new car and 500,000 rupees (about US$6,640).

According to media reports, the Kumar family was charged with conspiracy after some of Uthra's gold was found buried near his home, days after the murder.

India's Supreme Court recently warned about the trend of snakebite killings. The biggest challenge in the Kerala case is to prove that snakebite is homicide, said prosecutor G Mohanraj, adding that the court was presented with tests showing the difference between natural and artificial bite marks.

Earlier, two defendants were acquitted by courts in India in similar cases in recent years, after prosecutions failed to prove that a venomous snake was used as a 'murder weapon', The Hindu newspaper reported.