Sooraj has been charged under various sections of the IPC for murder, attempt to murder, attempt for inflicting permanent injury and for destroying evidence in the chargesheet.
The 1500- page chargsheet was submitted before the Punalur Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Kollam on Friday.
The investigating team says they reached the conclusion that it was a brutal murder as Uthra was attacked twice, first with a viper and then with a cobra. “She wasn’t able to walk, was in a bed-ridden situation for 52 days and had to undergo a plastic surgery after getting bitten by the viper. Making her get bitten again with a more venomous snake while she had still not recovered from the earlier attempt amounts to brutal murder only,” Crime Branch Deputy Superintendent of Police A Ashokan told TNM. The officer had led the investigation.
The police have called it a rare case due to the method chosen by Sooraj to execute the murder. “It’s not a weapon that we would normally imagine be used in crimes A creature had been trained, kept in captivity and made to bite his wife,” Ashokan added.
Sooraj who had martial issues with his wife had allegedly planned the murder for months. "He has searched the internet to understand about various kinds of snakes and their behavior. He also searched for chemicals and sedation tablets that can make people unconscious,” the chargesheet says.
Uthra was given sleeping pills before allegedly being murdered with the snake, Sooraj had confessed to the investigating team.
Sooraj was not happy in the marriage. Uthra’s parents used to give him money frequently on demand. “He didn’t want that financial help to stop but at the same time didn’t want the marriage to last. His plan was to make the murder to look like a snake bite death,” the officer added.
Advocate G Mohanraj has been appointed as the special prosecutor in the case.